MIRROR 

OF 

MODERN  DEMOCRACY: 

A 

HISTORY 

'  OF  THE 

DEMOCRATIC  PAETY, 


FROM  ITS  ORGANIZATION  IN  1825,  TO  ITS  LAST  GREAT 
ACHIEVEMENT, 


THE    REBELLION    OF    1861. 


TO  WHICH  IS  PREFIXED  A  SKETCH  OF 


THE  OLD  FEDERAL  AND  REPUBLICAN  PARTIES. 


BY  WILLIAM  D.  JONES. 


pu-ftelt; 

N.    C.    MILLER,    3    PARK    ROW 
1864. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1SC3,  by 
N  .   C  .   MILLER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Conrt  of  the  United  States,  for 
the   Southen)  District  of  New  York. 


J.  J.  KEEP,  Printer  nnd  Stereotyper, 
43  Centre  Street. 


PREFACE. 


THE  design  of  this  work  is  to  expose  a  mischievous 
delusion. 

Nearly  forty  years  ago  was  formed  a  political  party,  styled 
by  its  projectors  and  leaders,  "  The  Democratic  Party."  Un 
der  faithless  pledges  of  reform  it  came  into  power,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  brief  intervals,  has  since  had  control  of 
the  Government.  During  its  rule  incalculable,  injury  has  been 
inflicted  upon  the  country.  The  currency  has  been  repeatedly 
deranged ;  these  derangements  having  been  attended  with 
their  natural  concomitants,  financial  embarrassments,  commer 
cial  revulsions,  and  bank  suspensions ;  the  national  industry 
has  been  several  times  prostrated,  and  the  general  prosperity 
interrupted ;  the  constitutional  rights  of  citizens  have  been 
infringed ;  the  faith  of  treaties  has  been  violated  ;  free  terri 
tory  has  been  conquered  in  aggressive  wars,  consigned  to 
Slavery,  and  annexed  to  the  Union  ;  political  heresies  have 
been  propagated ;  and  corruption  has,  to  an  alarming  extent, 
been  introduced  into  the  Government.  These  are  a  part  of  a 
long  succession  of  evils  which  has  marked  the  career  of  this 
party,  and  which  at  length  culminated  in  this  Rebellion.  All 
this  has  been  done  in  the  abused  name  of  Democracy,  to  which 
this  party  lays  exclusive  claim.  It  was  defeated  in  the  con- 


M130114 


PBEFACE. 

test  of  1860;  and  after  having  involved  the  nation  in  a  most 
calamitous  civil  war,  it  is  again  making  its  appeals  to  the  peo 
ple  for  a  restoration  to  power. 

To  strip  from  this  party  the  guise  under  which  it  has  per 
petrated  its  evil  deeds,,  and  is  endeavoring  to  regain  political 
ascendency,  would  he  doing  the  country  an  invaluable  service. 
And  if  this  effort  should  aid  any  considerable  number  in  in 
vestigating  the  claims  of  Modern  Democracy,  or  remove  the 
scales  from  the  eyes  of  but  a  few  of  its  blind  devotees,  the  la 
bor  will  not  be  regretted. 

The  present  is  a  favorable  time  for  the  dissemination  of 
political  truth.  The  faith  of  many  in  the  infallibility  of  parties 
is  giving  way ;  party  attachments  are  relaxing ;  and  many 
who  have  been  deterred  from  investigation  by  the  force 
of  prejudice,  are  beginning  to  manifest  a  disposition  for  can 
did  inquiry. 

The  original  design  of  the  writer  was  simply  an  exposure  of 
the  real  character  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  its  agency  in 
the  present  Rebellion.  But  as  it  claims  paternity  in  Thomas 
Jefferson,  it  was  deemed  proper  to  precede  the  main  history  by 
a  sketch  of  the  old  Federal  and  Republican  parties.  And  to 
render  the  work  still  more  valuable,  it  has  been  made  to  pre 
sent  the  leading  measures  of  every  administration  under  the 
present  Constitution.  This  enlargement  of  the  original  plan 
was  in  a  measure  induced  by  the  facility  afforded  for  the 
performance  of  the  additional  labor,  by  the  somewhat  freo 
use  of  the  American  Statesman,*  granted  by  its  obliging 
publisher. 

*  A  work  which  I  will  take  occasion  here  gratuitously,  and 
without  solicitation,  to  commend  to  every  American  citizen 
who  wishes  to  procure  a  complete  and  impartial  political  his 
tory  of  the  United  States,  at  the  least  possible  cost. 


PREFACE. 

The  author  has  not  intentionally  done  injustice  to  any  parly 
or  individual.  Nor  has  he  condemned,  indiscriminately,  the 
acts  of  the  Democratic  party,  or  impugned  the  mofives  of  the 
mass  of  its  members,  or  even  of  a  majority  of  its  leaders ; 
many  of  whom,  doubtless,  have  supported  its  most  impolitic 
measures  in  good  faith.  But  that,  on  the  whole,  its  rule  has 
been  disastrous  to  the  country,  he  fully  believes. 

Nor  has  this  work  been  written  to  gratify  a  vindictive  feel 
ing  toward  political  opponents.  It  has  been  prompted  solely 
by  a  sense  of  duty  arising  from  the  conviction,  that  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Democratic  party  in  power,  would  be  a 
calamity  second  only  to  the  success  of  the  Rebellion. 


CONTENTS 


PART    FIRST. 
HISTORY  OF  THE  FEDERAL  AND  REPUBLICAN  PARTIES. 

CHAPTER    I. 

FROM  THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  TO  THE  CLOSE  OF  •WASHING 
TON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

Origin  of  the  First  Parties,  13-17.  The  Confederation,  14,  15.  History  of  the 
Constitution,  15-18.  Madison  proposes  a  Tariff,  18.  Executive  Departments 
organized.  19.  Washington's  Cabinet,19.  Judiciary  established,  19.  Provision 
to  pay  the  Public  Debt,  19,  20.  Whisky  Insurrection,  20.  Bank  established, 
21.  Relations  with  France  and  Great  Britain,  21-23.  Proclamation  of  Neu 
trality,  22.  Genet,  the  French  Minister,  at  Charleston,  22 ;  at  Philadelphia, 
23  ;  recalled,  23.  Jay's  mission  to  England,  24  ;  his  instructions,  24.  Brit- 
ish  orders,  22-24.  The  Jay  Treaty,  25-27.  Opposed  in  the  House,  26.  Op 
position  to  Washington,  29.  Election  of  John  Adams,  29. 

CHAPTER    II. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Inauguration  of  John  Adam?,  29.  French  troubles  increase,  29,  30.  Negotia 
tion  attempted,  30,  31.  Non-intercourse  and  War  measures,  31.  Washing 
ton  to  command  the  Army,  31.  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  31,  33.  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Resolutions,  33-35.  Dissension  in  the  Federal  Party.  35-37. 
New  Mission  to  France,  35-37.  Treaty  negotiated,  38  ;  ratified,  39.  Na 
turalization  and  Judiciary  Acts  altered,  39.  Election  of  Jefferson,  39,  40. 

CHAPTER   III. 

ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  JEFFER30N,  MADISON  AND  MONROE. 

Inauguration  of  Jefferson,  40.  Adams'  appointments  reversed ;  Duties  on 
Stills,  &c..  repealed,  42.  Purchase  of  Louisiana,  42,  43.  Territory  divided  ; 
Power  of  Congress  over  Slavery,  43.  "  Gunboat  System,"  43,  44.  Commer 
cial  troubles  with  Great  Britain,  44-46.  Imprisonment  of  Seamen,  44,  47. 
British  Orders  in  Council,  and  French  Decrees,  44,  43.  Embargo  Act,  45. 
Letters  suppressed  by  Jefferson,  45.  Embargo  repealed  by  Non-intercourso 
Act,  46.  French  Decrees  repealed,  46,  47.  War  declared  against  Great 
Britain  ;  opposed  by  Federalists,  47.  British  Orders  Revoked,  47.  Impress- 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

mcnt,  47,  43.  Ee-clcction  of  Madison  over  Clinton ;  Peace  with  Great 
Britain,  48.  New  Bank  chartered,  48-50.  Tariff  Act  of  1816,  50-52.  Mon 
roe  elected ;  Federal  Party  disbanded,  52,  53.  Presidential  Nominations ; 
Caucus  System  unpopular,  53.  End  of  Old  Parties,  54. 


PART  SECOND. 

CHAPTER    I. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

Inauguration  of  Adams,  55.  Alleged  Coalition,  55,  56.  Democratic  Party 
formed,  57.  Opposition  Measures,  57,  58.  Panama  Mission,  58-61.  Con 
troversy  with  Georgia,  61-63.  Removal  of  Publishers  of  Laws,  63.  "  Coali 
tion'1'  again,  63-65.  Tariff  of  1828,  65-67.  Minimum  explained,  65,  66. 
Chilton's  Retrenchment  Resolutions,  67-69.  Anti-Slavery  Petition,  69. 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina  protest  against  the  Tariff,  69,  70.  Election  of 
Gen.  Jackson,  70.  Remark*  on  the  Election ;  Causes  of  Adams'  Defeat, 
70-72. 

CHAPTER    II. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JACKSON — FIRST  TERM. 

Inauguration  of  Jackson  ;  Hia  Cabinet,  73.  Jackson's  political  Principles,  73- 
75.  His  Removals  and  Appointments,  75-77.  Ilis  Attack  upon  the  U.  S. 
Bank,  77.  Reports  on  the  Bnnk  in  Congress,  78.  Internal  Improvement 
Vetoes,  78.  Indian  Policy,  78-81.  The  Creeks,  78,  79.  Choctaws,  79. 
Cherokees,  79-81.  Imprisonment  of  Missionaries,  81.  Nullification  in  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  contrasted,  81.  West  India  Trade,  81-84.  McLane  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  84.  Rejection  of  Van  Buren  as  Minister 
to  England  ;  New  York  politics  vindicated  by  Marcy,  84-85.  Nullification 
— Hayne  and  Webster,  85,  86.  Tariff  of  1832,  86.  Reduction  proposed  by 
Verplanck  and  McDuffie,  86,  87.  South  Carolina  nullifies  ;  Jackson's  Pro 
clamation,  87.  "Force  Bill"  passed,  87,  88.  Virginia  mediates;  Clay's 
Compromise  Tariff,  88.  South  Carolina  repeals  her  Nullification  Ordinance, 
89.  Was  Jackson  a  Nullifier  ?  89,  90.  More  Vetoes,  91.  Clay's  Land  Bill 
—vetoed,  91,  92.  Bank  applies  to  be  re-chartered;  Bill  vetoed,  92,  93. 
President  censured.  93.  Bank  Investigation,  93-95.  Jackson  re-elected. 
95,  96. 

CHAPTER    III. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  JACKSON— SECOND  TERM. 

Removal  of  the  Deposits,  97-99.  SUte  of  the  Bank  examined,  97-99.  Reasons 
for  Removal.  98.  Duane  refuses,  and  is  removed  ;  Taney  appointed  ;  Bank 
vindicated  by  the  Directors,  99.  Attempt  to  break  the  Bank ;  the  Effects, 
100,  101.  Removal  condemned;  Clay's  Resolutions,  101.  Benton'a  Ex 
punging  Resolution,  102.  Anti-Slavery  Societies  ;  opposed  North  and  South, 
i03,  104.  Anti-Slavery  papers  excluded  from  Mails;  recommended  by  tho 


CONTERTS.  IX 

President,  104,  105.  Calhoun's  Bill ;  Van  Burcn's  Casting  Vote,  105, 
106.  Tendency  of  Democracy  to  Slavery,  107.  Abolition  Petitions  ;  Calhoun 
threatens  secession,  108.  Benton  against  Abolition  Societies,  109.  Derange 
ment  of  the  Currency  ;  War  upon  Bank  Paper,  109.  Specie  Circular;  In 
crease  of  Bank  Paper,  110.  Besolution  and  Bill  to  rescind  the  Specie  Order ; 
vetoed,  110,111.  Michigan  and  Arkansas  admitted,  111-113.  Distribution 
of  the  surplus  Revenue,  113.  Independence  of  Texas  Recognized,  113-115. 
Difficulty  with  Mexico,  115.  Election  of  Van  Buren,  115, 116. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF   VAN  BUREN. 

Inauguration  of  Van  Buren;  his  Pledges  for  Slavery,  117.  Severe  Money 
Pressure  and  Bank  Suspension:  Extra  Session  of  Congress  called,  118. 
Fourth  Installment  of  the  Surplus  Revenue  withheld;  Sub-Treasury  and 
other  bills,  119.  Democrats  abandon  the  administration  ;  Origin  of  the  Sub- 
Treasury,  119,  120.  Again  recommended,  and  defeated,  120,  121.  Senate 
Debate  on  Election  Results ;  Talhnadge's  Speech,  Loco-focos,  &c.,  121-123, 
Calhoun  re-unites  with  the  Democrats  ;  Specie  Circular  repealed,  123.  An 
nexation  of  Texas  ;  Proposition  withdrawn,  124,  125.  Atherton's  "  Gag  Re 
solutions,"  125.  Case  of  the  Spanish  Schooner  Amistad,  125-127.  New  Jer 
sey  contested  election  in  Congress,  and  Election  of  Speaker,  127-129.  State 
of  the  Country  ;  Election  of  Harrison  and  Tyler,  130,  131. 


CHAPTER    V. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  HARRISON  AND  TYLER. 

Inauguration  of  Harrison  ;  he  calls  a  special  Session  of  Congress ;  dies ;  Tyler 
inaugurated,  132.  Meeting  of  Congress  ;  Sub-Trensury  repealed  ;  Default 
ers,  133;  Tyler  vetoes  two  Bank  Bills;  Cabinet  Officers  resign;  Distribu 
tion  Act  passed  ;  Annual  Message,  133,  134.  Tariff  Act  of  1842  passed,  135, 
136.  West  India  Trade,  138.  Tyler  claimed  by  the  South;  Anti-Slavery 
Petitions,  137.  Attempt  to  censure  Adams,  138.  Giddings'  presents  Peti 
tions  and  Resolutions,  is  censured,  resigns,  and  is  re-elected,  139,  140.  Texas 
Question;  Treaty  rejected ;  Benton's  Speech,  140  142.  Letters  of  Clay  and 
Van  Buren  on  Annexation  of  Texas,  143,  144.  Nomination  of  Clay  and  Polk, 
145.  Northern  Democrats  abandon  their  Principles,  145,  146.  Effects  of  the 
Tariff  of  1842,  146,  147.  Folk's  Letter  to  Kane  on  the  Tariff,  147,  148. 
Clay's  Southern  Letter ;  Election  of  Polk,  148.  Annexation  of  Texas,  148- 
150. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

ADMINISTRATION     OF     POLK. 

Inauguration  of  Polk  ;  his  Cabinet,  151.  Protest  of  Mexico;  Mexican  Propo 
sition  to  Texas  ;  Polk  orders  our  Army  to  Texas;  Negotiation  with  Mexico 
attempted,  152.  Gen.  Taylor  ordered  to  the  Rio  Grande,  152,  153.  Hostili- 


X  CONTENTS. 

ties  provoked  ;  War  Mensnre  in  Congress,  153.  Polk  asks  Money  to  Noo-oti- 
ato  Pence,  154.  Wilmot  Proviso,  154,  I5b.  Calhoun  and  Benton  on  the 
War,  155,  156.  Clayton's  Expose,  156,  157.  Corwin'a  Course,  157.  Cha 
racter  of  the  War,  157,  158.  Oregon  Question— Trouble  with  Great  Britain, 
153-160.  Benton  denies  our  Claim  to  54  deg.  40  min.,  160.  Question  set 
tled,  160,  161.  Tariff  of  1846,  and  its  Effects,  161,  162.  Sub-Treasury  es 
tablished,  162.  Territorial  Government  of  Oregon,  162-164.  Attempt  to  or 
ganize  New  Mexico  and  California,  164.  National  Nominating  Conventions 
of  1848;  Views  of  Candidates  ;  Election  of  Taylor  and  Fillinore,  164,165. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  TAYLOR  AND  FILLMORE. 

Inauguration  of  Taylor;  his  Cabinet ;  Message,  166.  Compromise  Measures  of 
1850,  167.  168.  Death  of  President  Tajlor ;  Fillinore  succeeds— his  Cabinet, 
168.  Webster  and  Filhnore— change  on  the  Slavery  Question,  168-170.  Op 
position  to  Taylor;  Filhnore's  Policy,  170,  171.  Seward  and  Taylor,  171. 
Defection  of  Filhnore  and  his  Friends;  Silver  Gray  Party;  Fillmore'g  al 
leged  Pledge  to  the  South,  171,  172.  Probable  Cause  of  Opposition  to  Taylor, 
172,  173.  Nominations  of  Pierce  and  Scott;  Democratic  a:;d  Whig  Plat 
forms,  173,  174.  Election  of  Pierce,  174. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

ADMINISTRATION     OF    TIERCE. 

Inauguration  of  Pierce  ;  his  Declarations  againet  Slavery  Agitation,  175.  Kan 
sas-Nebraska  Bill— repealing  Missouri  Compromise — Non-intervention,  175- 
177.  Chase's  Speech,  176.  Who  are  the  Agitators?  176.  177.  Passage  of 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  177.  Opposition  to  Anti-Slavery  Settlers  in  Kan 
sas ;  Illegal  Voting;  Territorial  Pro-Slavery  Laws,  177,  178.  Topcka  Con 
stitution  ;  President's  Message,  179.  Douglas'  Report.  179,  180.  Grow'a 
Bill  for  the  Admission  of  Knnsas  ;  Dunn's  Substitute,  180.  Republican  Party 
formed,  180.  Cincinnati  Convention  Nominates  Buchanan  and  liieokenridgo  ; 
Platform,  180-182.  Republicans  nominate  Fremont  and  Dayton;  Platform, 
182.  Buchanan  elected,  183.  Congress  meets  ;  Pierce's  hist  Message,  183. 
Grow's  Bill  to  annul  Kansas  Laws  ;  Kansas  under  Gov.  Geary,  184.  Topeka 
Legislature  broken  up  ;  Territorial  Legislature  meets,  184.  Constitutional 
Convention  authorized ;  Gov.  Geary  resigns,  184,  185. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ADMINISTRATION  OP  BUCHANAN. 

Inauguration  of  Buchanan  ;  Squatter  Sovereignty  superseded,  186.  Drod  Scott 
Decision,  187,  183.  Walker  appointed  Governor  of  Kansas,  188.  Free 
State  Legislature  and  Congressman  elected,  188,  189.  Lecompton  Swindle; 
approved  by  Buchanan,  189,  190.  Secretary  Stanton  removed,  and  Denver 


CONTENTS.  XI 

appointed  ;  Gov.  Walker  resigns,  190.  Popular  Votes  on  Lecompton  Consti 
tution  ;  Election  Frauds  ;  Escape  of  Calhoun,  190.  Constitution  presented  to 
Congress;  Bill  for  Admission  reported,  191.  Land  Grant  Proposition  reject 
ed,  191,  192.  President's  Message,  192.  Oregon  admitted,  192.  Gov.  Den 
ver  resigns,  and  Medary  is  appointed ;  Acts  to  repeal  the  "  Bogus  Laws," 
and  to  submit  the  Question  of  a  new  Convention,  192.  Bill  to  abolish  Slavery 
passed;  defeated  by  Gov.  Medary,  192.  The  People  vote  for  the  Constitu 
tional  Convention  at  Wyandot ;  Constitution  prohibitinz  Slavery  formed  and 
adopted,  192,  193.  President's  Message,  Dec.,  1859  ;  Kansas  again  rejected, 
193.  Homestead  Bill,  193-197.  Davis'  Resolutions,  197,  198.  Presidential 
Nominations,  Platforms,  and  Campaign,  of  1860,  198-203.  Votes  for  Presi 
dent,  203.  Evidences  of  long  meditated  Secession,  203-209.  Buchanan's 
Delinquency  ;  Cass  resigns  ;  Scott's  Advice,  209.  Buchanan's  last  Message, 
210,211.  Remarks  on  "  Sectionalism,"  211-214.  Fillmore's  Albany  Speech 
in  1856,  213.  "Sugar  Plum"  Policy;  South  Carolina  secedes,  214.  Cabi 
net  Changes,  214,  215.  Trencher}'  of  Gen.  Twiggs,  215  Crittenden's  Com 
promise  Propositions,  215,  216.  The  Southern  Confederacy,  216.  Virginia 
and  the  Peace  Convention,  216-218.  Retirement  of  Buchanan,  218. 

CHAPTER    X. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  LINCOLN. 

Inauguration  of  Lincoln,  nnd  Address,  219.  His  Cabinet,  220.  Assault  on 
Fort  Sumter  ;  Star  of  the  West ;  Call  for  Troops  ;  Response,  220,  221.  Seceding 
States  ;  Traitors  and  Spies,  221  Congress  meets  in  special  Session  ;  Message, 
222-224.  War  .Measures,  224,226.  Capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  225. 
Meeting  of  Congress  ;  Message  ;  Confiscation,  226.  Slavery  prohibited  ; 
abolk-hed  in  District  of  Columbia,  227.  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  227. 
Adams  and  Patrick  Henry's  Opinions,  227-229.  Meeting  of  Governors,  229. 
Congress  meets,  Dec.,  1862  ;  Lincoln's  Plan  of  Emancipation,  229,  230.  Col 
ored  Soldiers;  Western  Virginia  admitted,  230. 

CHAPTER    XI.  ^ 

PARTIES  CONTRASTED.   THE  DEMOCRATIC  TARTY  THE  PARTY  OF  THE  RE 
BELLION. 

Who  caused  the  Rebellion'?  231.  Jefferson  and  others  on  Slavery,  231-234. 
Action  of  Congress  on  Slavery  in  Territories,  235.  Anti-Slavery  Sentiment 
in  the  States,  235-237.  Republican  Party  conservative,  237,  238.  Anti- 
Slavery  Apostates  ;  Fillmore  in  18-14,  238,  239..  Character  of  the  Democratic 
Party,  239-241.  The  Democracy  on  Protection,  241  ;  Subservient  to  the 


Democratic  Party  allied  to  Secession,  245.  New  York  and  Albany  Secession 
Meetings;  Speeches  of  Governor  Seymour  and  Thiyer,  2^5-249.  Philadel 
phia  Meeting,  249.  Fall  of  Sumter;  transient  Patriotism,  250.  Maine 
Democracy,  250,  251.  Vallandigham,  251.  'Iho  two  Seymours  ;  Connecti- 


Xll  CONTEXTS. 

cut  Sej-mour's  Secession  Letter,  251,  252.  The  Democratic  Party  Embarrasses 
tho  Government,  253.  Resolutions  of  Illinois  nnd  Indinna  Legislatures,  254. 
Drafting  opposed  by  the  Democrats ;  Riots  in  New  York,  254,  255.  Governor 
Fe.ymour  and  the  Draft;  his  Correspondence  with  Gen.  Due,  256,  257.  Ex- 
President  Pierce's  Secession  Letter,  257-259. 

CONCLUSION. 

Objects  of  the  Democratic  Leaders,  260,  261.  Ho\r  the  Enemy  of  Freedom— 
Sham  Democracy — is  to  be  vanquished.  261.  Overthrow  of  Slavery  essential 
to  Peace  ;  The  Effects  of  ita  Abolition,  262. 


DEMOCRATIC  MIRROR. 


PART    FIRST. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  FEDERAL  AND  REPUBLICAN  PARTIES. 


CHAPTER    I 

History  of  Political  Parties  to  the  close  of  Washington's  Administration, 

THE  date  of  a  party  organization  has  often  a  controlling 
influence  upon  the  political  conduct  of  men.  They  imagine 
themselves  right  in  politics,  because  they  have  adopted 
the  opinions  and  long  followed  the  lead  of  certain  states 
men  and  politicians.  There  are  multitudes  who,  after  all 
the  changes  of  parties  during  the  last  fifty  years,  boast 
that  they  are  in  the  regular  line  of  the  great  party  of 
which  Jefferson  was  the  head  and  leader.  They  profess  to 
be  the  disciples  of  this  great  "  Apostle  of  Liberty,"  while 
they  can  not  tell  what  were  the  principles  he  taught,  or 
the  measures  of  public  policy  upon  which  the  first  two 
great  parties  were  divided. 

It  is  designed,  before  proceeding  to  the  main  object  of 
this  work,  to  present  a  true  sketch  of  the  Federal  and 
Republican  parties,  which,  though  brief,  will,  it  is  believed, 
furnish  the  necessary  assistance  to  those  who  desire  to 
trace  their  political  pedigree,  and  to  test  the  claims  of 
Modern  Democracy. 

These  parties,  as  is  well  known,  originated  in  the  Con 
vention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  known,  also,  by  every  reader  at  all  acquainted  with 
our  political  history,  that  the  States,  prior  to  the  Revolu 
tion,  had  no  political  connection  ;  and  that,  for  the  more 
effective  prosecution  of  the  war  of  independence,  a  union 
of  the  States  was  formed.  In  1777,  the  year  after  the 


Li 


DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 


Declaration  of  Independence,  Articles  of  Union  were  drawn 
up  by  the  Congress,  and  submitted  to  the  several  States 
for  adoption.  They  were  styled,  "  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion  and  perpetual  Union  between  the  States  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia/7  These  Articles  were  to  go  into  effect  win  n 
ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  all  the  States.  But  so  slow 
were  some  of  the  States  in  adopting  them,  that  the  last 
State,  (Maryland,)  (id  not  send  in  her  ratification  until 
March,  1781. 

This  Union  was  simply  a  league,  or  confederation  of  inde 
pendent  States.  One  of  the  articles  expressly  declared, 
"each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,,  and  inde 
pendence."  The  States  were  equal.  Each  State  was; 
entitled  to  any  number  of  delegates  in  the  Congress,  not 
exceeding  seven.  Votes  in  that  body  were  taken  by 
States,  each  State  having  one  vote,  which  was  determined 
by  a  majority  of  its  delegates.  No  State  was  entitled  to  a 
vote  unless  at  least  two  of  its  delegates  were  present  ;  nor 
when  its  delegates  were  equally  divided. 

Although  the  Confederation  was  called  a  Government,  it 
had  scarcely  one  of  the  essential  attributes  of  a  govern 
ment.  It  had  neither  an  Executive  nor  a  Judicial  depart 
ment.  Its  grand  defect  was  its  inherent  weakness.  The 
power  to  execute  the  laws  was  wholly  wanting.  There 
being  no  national  Judiciary,  all  suits  must  be  tried  in 
State  courts.  Indeed,  the  Government  did  not  operate 
directly  upon  individuals  ;  and  as  no  person  could  be 
answerable  to  it,  there  was  no  need  of  national  courts. 
There  was  a  Legislature  consisting  of  a  single  body  of 
men,  called  Congress  ;  but  it  did  not  possess  the  ordinary 
powers  of  legislation.  As  it  had  not  the  power  to  carry  its 
own  requisitions  into  effect,  it  possessed  little  more  than 
an  advisory  power.  It  belonged  to  Congress  to  call  upon 
the  States,  from  time  to  time,  to  furnish  their  respective 
quotas  of  men  and  money  to  carry  on  the  war  ;  but  it  had 
not  the  power  to  compel  a  State  to  raise  a  man  or  a  dol 
lar  for  this  purpose.  It  could  and  did  borrow  money  on  its 
own  credit  j  bnt  it  had  no  power  to  make  any  effectual 


EARLY    PARTIES.  15 

provisions  for  its  repayment ;  the  power  of  taxation  being 
possessed  exclusively  by  the  States.  Hence,  this  govern 
ment  was  wholly  dependent  upon  the  good  will  of  thirteen 
independent  State  Governments. 

Another  very  important  power  of  which  the  Confedera 
tion  was  destitute,  was  the  power  to  regulate  trade.  The 
necessity  of  this  power  was,  in  fact,  the  more  immediate 
cause  of  calling  the  Convention  that  framed  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  colonists  had  for  more  than  a  hundred  years 
suffered  severely  from  the  acts  of  the  British  Parliament 
designed  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  trade.  By  the  navigation 
acts  of  1651  and  lt>63,  foreign  vessels  were  not  allowed  to 
participate  in  the  carrying  trade  between  Great  Britain 
and  other  countries.  Acts  were  passed  also  to  secure  the 
sale  of  her  own  manufactures.  Some  of  the  most  necessary 
articles  the  colonists  were  not  allowed  to  manufacture  for 
themselves,  under  severe  penalties.  In  short,  her  policy 
was  such  as  to  compel  the  people  of  the  Colonies  to  soil  to 
the  mother  country  their  raw  materials  and  all  other  pro 
ducts  which  it  was  for  her  interest  to  buy,  and  to  take  in 
exchange  her  manufactures  and  whatever  else  she  had  to 
sell.  These  acts,  and  the  oppressive  duties  laid  from  time 
to  time  upon  the  productions  of  the  Colonies,  were  among 
the  principal  grievances  which  led  to  the  Revolution. 

During  the  war,  intercourse  between  the  two  countries 
was  suspended.  But  when,  on  the  return  of  peace,  com 
mercial  intercourse  was  resumed,  the  effects  of  the  British 
policy  began  to  be  again  severely  felt.  The  country  was 
tlooded  with  British  goods,  and  drained  of  its  money  to  pay 
for  them.  Relief  might  have  been  obtained  by  counter 
vailing  duties  upon  British  goods  and  vessels  ;  but  Con 
gress  had  not  the  power  thus  to  regulate  commerce  :  this 
po\ver,  too,  belonged  to  the  States.  To  be  effectual,  the 
duties  levied  in  the  different  States  must  be  uniform  ;  but 
the  States  were  unable  to  agree  upon  a  uniform  system  of 
duties.  What  was  deemed  for  the  interest  of  one  State, 
might  be  injurious  to  others  :  hence,  conflicting  regulations 
were  adopted  ;  the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  jealousy  which  led 
to  this  retaliatory  legislation  arose  to  such  a  pitch  as 
seriously  to  threaten  the  safety  of  the  Union. 

A  meeting  was  at  length  proposed,  to  consist  of  commis- 


16  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

sioncrs  of  the  several  States,  with  a  view  to  some  satisfac 
tory  arrangement.  The  meeting  was  held  at  Annapolis, 
in  Maryland,  in  September,  1786.  But  as  only  five  States 
were  represented,  no  arrangement  was  attempted.  The 
commissioners,  however,  united  in  recommending  a  gener  1 
convention  of  delegates  from  all  the  States,  and  expressed 
the  opinion  that,  as  there  were  numerous  defects  in  the 
Federal  Government,  the  powers  of  the  deputies  should  bo 
extended  to  other  objects  than  those  of  commerce.  The 
Convention  was  accordingly  called  by  Congress,  to  meet  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  2d  Monday  of  June,  1787. 

Very  soon  after  the  Convention  was  organized,  an  im 
portant  difference  of  opinion  began  to  appear.  Two  plans 
of  government  were  presented  ;  one  by  Edmund  Randolph, 
of  Virginia,  the  other  by  William  Patterson,  of  New  Jersey. 
A  resolution  also  was  offered,  declaring,  "That  a  National 
Government  ought  to  be  established,  consisting  of  a 
supreme  Legislative,  Judiciary,  and  Executive."  As  this 
resolution  proposed  a  radical  change  in  the  system  of  gov 
ernment,  it  met  with  strong  opposition.  Delegates  were 
opposed  to  changing  the  Confederation  of  independent, 
sovereign  States  to  a  consolidated  National  Government. 
The  Convention,  they  contended,  had  been  called,  not  to 
alter  the  plan  of  government,  but  simply  to  confer  upon 
Congress  certain  necessary  powers  which  it  did  not 
possess. 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  other  alterations  had  been 
contemplated — that  some  of  the  States  had  expressly  sug 
gested  "  the  establishing  of  a  firm  national  government,"  and 
to  make  such  alterations  as  should  "  render  the  Constitu 
tion  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  government  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Union."  Besides,  as  no  plan  that  might 
be  adopted  by  the  Convention  could  be  binding  until  rati 
fied  by  their  constituents,  the  Convention  might  propose 
any  changes  which  were  deemed  conducive  to  the  general 
welfare  of  the  Union. 

The  debate  upon  this  resolution  became  highly  animated. 
Indeed,  to  such  a  height  wero  the  feelings  of  members 
raised,  that  the  Convention  was  on  the  point  of  being 
br.oken  up.  The  resolution  was  at  length  adopted  ;  and 
the  plan  of  a  Constitution  presented  by  Mr.  Randolph, 


EARLY    PARTIES.  17 

which,  being  more  in  accordance  with  that  contemplated 
by  the  resolution,  was  taken  as  the  basis  of  action  by  the 
Convention. 

Defeated  in  their  opposition  to  the  resolution  proposing 
a  change  in  the  plan  of  government,  some  members  of  the 
minority  left  the  Convention  long  before  its  close,  and  re 
turned  to  their  homes.  Others  remained,  in  the  hope, 
doubtless,  of  being  able  to  restrain,  in  some  measure,  the 
action  of  the  majority.  Hence,  the  minority,  being  in  favor 
of  preserving  the  then  existing  Confederation,  or  Federal 
Union,  the  union  of  sovereign,  independent  States  on  the 
principle  of  State  equality,  were  in  the  Convention  called 
"Federalists;"  and  the  majority,  being  opposed  to  a  simple 
Confederation  of  States,  and  in  favor  of  a  complete  Govern 
ment  possessing  more  of  a  national  character,  and  more 
ample  powers,  were  called  Anti- Federalists.  [See  Luther 
Martin's  Report  to  the  Legislature  of  Maryland,  in  Elliot's 
Delates.']  Afterward,  while  the  proposed  Constitution  was 
before  the  people  of  the  States  for  ratification,  its  friends, 
the  Anti-Federalists,  urged,  as  a  reason  for  its  adoption, 
that  the  States  could  not  be  held  together  by  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  ;  and  that  there  was  no  hope  of  preserv 
ing  the  Union,  but  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 
Hence  they  then  took  the  name  of  Federalists,  by  which 
name  one  of  the  two  great  political  parties  was  distin 
guished,  until  its  dissolution  after  the  election  of  Mr. 
Monroe. 

In  the  State  Conventions  which  ratified  the  Constitution, 
the  same  difference  of  sentiment  prevailed.  One  party 
favored  the  granting  of  ample  powers  to  the  General  Gov 
ernment  ;  the  other  contended  for  the  rights  of  the  States, 
apprehensive  that  too  much  power  was  to  be  surrendered 
to  the  Federal  Government,  which  might  in  time  "  swallow- 
up"  the  State  Governments.  Such  was  the  jealousy  for 
State  rights,  that  some  of  the  State  Conventions,  though 
they  ratified  the  Constitution,  recommended  to  Congress 
sundry  amendments  to  be  proposed  to  the  several  States 
in  the  way  provided  by  the  Constitution.  These  amend 
ments  were  generally  in  the  nature  of  the  bills  of  rights 
annexed  to  our  State  Constitutions.  As  the  General  Gov 
ernment  possesses  no  powers  but  such  as  are  granted  by 


18  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  Constitution,  these  express  guaranties  were  unncces 
sary,  and  were  added  mainly  to  prevent  misconstruction  or 
abuse  of  constitutional  powers.  They  are  contained  in  the 
first  ten  articles  of  amendment. 

Among  the  leading  Federalists  of  that  day,  were  Gen. 
Washington,  James  Madison,  and  John  Marshall,  of  Va.  ; 
Itufus  King  and  John  Adams,  of  Mass.  ;  Alexander  Hamil 
ton  and  John  Jay,  of  N.  Y.  ;  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  Pa.  ; 
Charles  Pincknoy  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of  S.  C  ;  all  of 
whom,  except  Marshall,  Adams  and  Jay,  had  been  members 
of  the  Convention.  [Mr.  King  subsequently  became  a  citi 
zen  of  the  State  of  New  York.] 

Notwithstanding  the  division  of  sentiment  which  has 
been  noticed,  there  were  not  as  yet,  nor  for  many  years 
afterwards,  distinct,  organized  political  parties.  And 
General  Washington,  though  acting  with  the  friends  of  the 
Constitution  in  the  Convention,  was  elected  President  with 
out  opposition.  The  leading  measures  of  his  administra 
tion,  however,  met  with  a  strong  opposition  from  those  who 
were  opposed  to  the  Federalists. 

The  1st  Congress  met  in  New  York  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1789  ;  but  a  quorum  of  both  Houses  did  not  attend  until 
the  6th  of  March.  On  counting  the  electoral  votes,  it  ap 
peared  that  Gen.  Washington  was  unanimously  elected 
President,  and  that  John  Adams  was,  by  the  next  highest 
number  of  votes,  elected  Vice-President.  On  the  30th  of 
April,  the  President  took  the  oatb  of  office. 

Great  public  rejoicings  had  taken  place  on  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  by  mechanics  and  manufacturers  in 
sundry  places,  because  Congress  had  now  the  power  to 
regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  by  protecting  du 
ties.  Scarcely  had  Congress  commenced  its  deliberations, 
before  petitions  were  received  from  Baltimore,  Charleston, 
New  York,  Boston,  and  other  places,  for  the  exercise  of 
this  power  for  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures. 
When  the  first  of  these  petitions  was  received,  Mr.  Madi 
son  had  already  brought  forward  the  subject  of  the  revenue 
83Tstem  ;  and  the  first  act  passed  by  Congress,  excepting 
only  the  law  prescribing  the  oaths  of  office,  was  an  act,  the 
objects  of  which  were  declared  in  the  preamble  to  be,  "  the 
support  of  the  Government,  the  discharge  of  the  debts  of 


n 

EARLY    PARTIES.  19 

the  United  States,  and  the  encouragement  and  protection  of 
domestic  manufactures,  by  duties  on  goods,  wares,  arid 
merchandises  imported."  By  this  act,  discriminating  duties 
\vere  laid  upon  both  foreign  goods  and  foreign  vessels. 

At  this  session  the  auxiliary  Executive  Departments 
were  reorganized  and  adapted  to  the  new  Government. 
The  question  arose,  whether  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate 
was  necessary  in  the  removal  of  officers  as  in  their  appoint 
ment.  The  opinion  of  the  writers  of  the  Federalist  was, 
that  the  consent  of  the  Senate  \vould  be  necessary  "  to  dis 
place  as  well  as  to  appoint."  This  construction  was  sup 
ported  by  Mr.  Sherman  and  Mr  Gerry,  who  had  been  mem 
bers  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  opposed  by  Mr. 
Madison  and  Mr.  Baldwin,  who  also  had  been  members  of 
the  Convention.  The  latter  view  prevailed  by  a  vote  of 
34  to  20. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  ;  Mr. 
Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Gen.  Knox  of  Mass., 
Secretary  of  War  ;  and  Edmund  Randolph,  Attorney- 
General. 

The  Judiciary  Department  also  was  established  at  this 
session. 

Congress,  having  adjourned  on  the  29th  of  September, 
to  meet  again  on  the  1st  Monday  of  January,  1790,  met 
accordingly.  Among  the  objects  recommended  by  the 
President,  were  those  of  "promoting  manufactures,"  and 
making  "  adequate  provision  for  the  support  of  the  public 
credit."  The  latter  was  the  great  measure  of  the  session. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  having  been  directed  at  the 
preceding  session  to  prepare  a  plan,  reported  one  ac 
cordingly. 

The  public  credit  had  become  so  depressed,  that  Govern 
ment  paper  had  been  sold  for  one-sixth  to  one-eighth  of  its 
nominal  value.  Issues  of  this  "  Continental  money,"  as  it 
was  called,  having  been  made  to  the  amount  of  nearly  300 
millions  of  dollars,  it  was  not  an  easy  task  to  maintain  the 
honor  and  retrieve  the  credit  of  the  nation,  and  do  perfect 
justice  to  all  the  public  creditors. 

The  Secretary  recommended  that  the  foreign  debt  should 
be  fully  paid  ;  and  in  respect  to  the  domestic  debt,  that  no 
discrimination  should  be  made  between  original  holders  of 


20  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  public  securities  and  present  possessors  by  purchase  ; 
nor  between  creditors  of  the  Union  and  those  of  the  States. 
As  the  chief  part  of  the  debts  of  the  States  had  been  con 
tracted  on  account  of  the  Union,  the  same  ought  to  be  as 
sumed  by  the  Union.  And  he  recommended  that  the  debt 
be  funded.  The  provision  of  a  permanent  fund  for  its  pay 
ment  would  establish  the  public  credit,  and  enable  the 
Government,  in  any  emergency,  to  procure  means  to  sup 
ply  the  public  necessity.  It  would  prevent  the  fluctuation 
and  insecurity  of  an  unfunded  debt.  The  debt  properly 
funded  would  serve  most  purposes  of  money  ;  and  the  capi 
tal  thus  created  "  would  invigorate  all  the  operations  of 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce." 

In  the  measures  of  finance  founded  on  this  Report,  orig 
inated  the  first  regular  and  systematic  opposition  to  Wash 
ington's  administration.  Mr.  Madison,  who,  in  convention, 
and  for  some  time  afterward,  had  been  one  of  those  called 
"  Federalists,"  now  joined  the  opposition.  Some  were  op 
posed  to  funding  systems  generally.  But  the  assumption 
of  the  State  debts  was  a  special  object  of  denunciation. 
Such  was  the  opposition  to  the  financial  measures  gener 
ally,  that  resolutions  denouncing  them  were  passed  by 
the  Legislatures  of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
North  Carolina.  The  plan  of  the  Secretary  was  in  the 
main  adopted.  Of  the  debts  of  the  States,  estimated  at 
about  $25,000,000,  the  sum  of  $21,500,000  was  assumed  in 
specific  sums  from  the  several  States. 

The  opposition  to  these  measures  was  to  some  extent 
increased  by  an  act  passed  at  the  next  session,  (1790-1791,) 
in  conformity  to  a  report  of  the  Secretary,  recommending 
an  increase  of  duties  on  imported  wines,  spirits,  tea  and 
coffee,  and  a  duty  on  home  distilled  spirits.  The  proposed 
duty  on  domestic  distilled  spirits  was  vehemently  opposed, 
especially  by  Southern  and  Western  members,  the  popula 
tion  in  that  section  being  to  a  less  extent  the  consumers  of 
foreign  goods. 

It  was  this  tax  on  domestic  spirits  which  caused  what 
was  called  the  "  Whisky  insurrection,"  in  Western  Penn 
sylvania.  An  organized  opposition  to  the  law  having  been 
formed,  Congress  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  President 
to  call  out  the  militia  to  aid  in  enforcing  the  laws.  The 


EARLY  PARTIES.  21 

insurrection  having  at  length  assumed  an  alarming  aspect, 
the  President,  in  the  summer  of  1794,  ordered  a  military 
force  to  be  raised  of  15,000  men,  by  which  the  insurrection 
was  quelled,  almost  without  bloodshed. 

But  the  most  prominent  financial  measure  of  the  session 
at  which  this  tax  law  was  enacted,  (1790-1791,)  was  the 
establishment  of  a  National  Bank.  This,  too,  had  been 
recommended  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  sup 
ported  by  various  arguments.  The  Bank  bill  was  opposed 
by  the  same  party  as  that  which  had  opposed  other  meas 
ures  of  the  administration.  Its  leading  opponent  was  Mr. 
Madison.  The  bill  passed  the  House,  39  to  20.  All  who 
voted  against  the  bill,  except  one,  were  from  the  States  of 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia.  All  present  from  the  other  States,  except  one 
from  Massachusetts,  voted  in  the  affirmative,  with  two 
from  Maryland,  two  from  North  Carolina,  and  one  from 
South  Carolina.  The  President  obtained  the  written  opin 
ions  of  the-  members  of  his  Cabinet  as  to  the  constitution 
ality  of  the  bill.  They  were  equally  divided,  Hamilton 
and  Knox  affirming  its  constitutionality,  and  Jefferson  and 
Randolph  being  of  the  contrary  opinion.  After  mature  de 
liberation,  the  President  signed  the  bill. 

Washington's  foreign  policy  encountered  scarcely  less 
opposition  than  his  domestic.  The  revolution  in  France, 
which  commenced  about  the  time  when  our  Government 
under  the  Constitution  was  organized,  was  followed  by  a 
general  war  in  Europe.  Several  European  Powers  had 
combined  against  France  ;  and  the  latter  had  made  a  for 
mal  declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain  and  Holland. 
It  now  became  a  question,  What  course  should  the  United 
States  pursue  towards  the  new  Government  of  France  ? 
During  our  Revolution,  an  alliance  had  been  formed  with 
that  nation,  which  had  rendered  us  aid  in  our  contest  with 
Great  Britain  ;  and  a  large  portion  of  the  American  people 
were  now  disposed  to  reciprocate  the  favor. 

The  President,  though  sympathizing  with  France,  desired 
to  maintain  a  neutral  position,  provided  it  should  be  deter 
mined  that  such  a  course  was  consistent  with  our  treaties 
with  that  country.  He  therefore  submitted  a  series  of 
questions  to  the  Cabinet,  then  consisting  of  four  members. 


22  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

One  of  these  questions  was,  Shall  a  proclamation  be  issued 
enjoining  non-interference  by  our  citizens  in  the  war  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  France  ?  Another,  Shall  a  minis 
ter  from  the  French  Republic  be  received  ?  The  members 
were  unanimous  in  favor  of  a  proclamation  of  neutrality, 
and  of  receiving  a  Minister.  The  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury 
and  of  War,  (Hamilton  and  Knox,)  however,  advised  the 
reception  of  a  Minister  with  a  qualification  ;  it  being  doubt 
ful  whether  the  new  Government  of  France  had  been 
established  by  the  general  consent  of  the  nation.  The 
Secretary  of  State  and  Attorney-General,  (Jefferson  and 
Randolph,)  favored  the  reception  without  qualification. 
The  change  of  Government,  they  thought,  did  not  absolve 
us  from  the  obligation  of  preexisting  treaties.  In  accord 
ance  with  this  view,  the  President  decided  to  receive  the 
French  Minister. 

The  grounds  upon  which  the  proclamation  of  neutrality 
was  justified,  were,  first,  that  in  the  condition  of  France,  as 
it  then  was,  the  United  States  could  not  become  involved 
in  the  war  without  endangering  their  own  safety  ;  and 
secondly,  that  our  obligations  held  only  in  case  of  a  defen 
sive  war  ;  whereas  the  present  war  had  been  commenced 
by  France.  These  were  the  opinions  of  the  two  Secretaries 
first  mentioned.  The  other  two  deemed  it  unnecessary 
then  to  decide  this  question.  The  proclamation  was  issued 
on  the  22d  of  April,  1793.  For  this  act,  unanimously  ad 
vised  by  the  Cabinet,  the  President  was  severely  censured 
by  his  political  opponents.  It  was  considered  as  evidence 
of  hostility  towards  France. 

The  new  French  Minister  had  arrived  at  Charleston  on 
the  8th  of  April,  and  commenced  enlisting  American  citi 
zens  and  fitting  out  vessels  of  war,  by  which  British  com 
merce  was  annoyed,  and  a  British  vessel  actually  captured 
in  our  waters.  Yet,  in  these  and  other  similar  unlawful 
acts,  he  was  sustained  by  a  powerful  party  and  its  presses. 
He  was  told  that  the  people  would  sustain  him.  Tims  en 
couraged,  he  persisted  in  his  warfare  against  the  Govern 
ment.  A  large  number  of  British  vessels,  some  of  them 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  were  captured 
by  vessels  fitted  out  by  Genet,  and  acting  under  his  au 
thority.  After  a  brief  stay  at  Charleston,  he  proceeded  to 


EARLY  PARTIES.  23 

the  seat  of  Government,  (Philadelphia,)  where  he  was 
received  with  loud  and  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  joy 
by  his  numerous  friends.  Here,  too,  he  undertook  to  carry 
on  his  filibustering  scheme,  and  actually  succeeded  in 
fitting*  out  at  least  one  privateer,  and  getting;  her  out  to 
sea,  during  a  brief  absence  of  the  President  at  Mount 
Vernon. 

The  conduct  of  Genet  having  at  length  become  intoler 
able,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  in  Cabinet,  that  a  letter 
should  be  sent  to  the  French  Government  requesting  his 
recall.  This  highly  exasperated  him.  Even  Mr.  Jefferson, 
whom  he  regarded  as  a  friend,  became  an  object  of  dis 
pleasure  ;  he  having,  as  Genet  alleged,  used  to  him  two 
languages,  "  one  official  and  another  confidential."  He  was 
soon  after  recalled.  He,  however,  never  returned  to  France, 
but  remained  in  this  country  until  the  day  of  his  death. 

Although  the  Cabinet  had  unanimously  agreed  to  the 
proclamation  of  neutrality,  many  eminent  citizens  and 
statesmen  were  opposed  to  it,  and  in  favor  of  joining 
France.  Among  them  was  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  considered 
our  treaty  obligations  in  full  force,  and  who,  though  he  had 
assented  to  the  proclamation,  regarded  the  question  as 
merely  reserved  to  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

The  cause  of  France  had  been  much  weakened  in  this 
country  by  the  reprehensible  conduct  of  the  French  Minis 
ter,  A  reaction,  however,  was  soon  produced  by  certain 
impolitic  measures  of  the  British  Government.  A  scarcity 
of  provisions  in  France  had  induced  the  latter  to  open  her 
ports  to  neutral  commerce.  Great  Britain,  hoping  to  reduce 
her  enemy  by  famine,  determined  to  cut  off  external  supplies. 
British  cruisers  were  instructed  to  stop  all  vessels  carrying 
bread-stuffs  to  any  port  of  France,  and  to  bring  them  into  a 
convenient  port.  If  they  were  proved  to  be  neutral  property, 
the  cargoes  were  to  be  purchased,  and  the  ships  released  ; 
or  both  cargoes  and  vessels  were  to  be  released  on  their 
masters'  giving  bonds  that  the  cargoes  should  be  disposed 
of  in  the  ports  of  countries  at  peace  with  Great  Britain/ 
This  measure  Great  Britain  alleged  to  be  justified  by  the 
Jaw  of  nations,  which  made  all  provisions  contraband  and 
liable  to  confiscation,  when  the  stopping  of  these  supplies 
was  intended  as  a  means  of  reducing  an  enemy  to  terms  of 


24  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

peace.  It  was  alleged,  too,  that  the  British  orders  did  not 
go  to  the  extent  allowable  ;  they  did  not  prohibit  all  kinds 
of  provisions,  nor  require  forfeiture.  The  American  Gov 
ernment,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that  both  reason 
and  usage  had  established  the  right  of  a  neutral  nation  to 
carry  the  products  of  their  industry  for  exchange  to  all 
nations,  belligerent  or  neutral,  as  usual,  without  injury  or 
molestation.  This  measure  greatly  embarrassed  American 
commerce,  and,  supcradded  to  the  supposed  encouragement 
of  Indian  hostilities  by  the  British  in  Canada,  the  continued 
occupation  of  the  Western  military  posts,  and  the  impress 
ment  of  American  seamen  into  the  British  service,  awakened 
intense  resentment  in  the  American  people  toward  Great 
Britain. 

The  British  Government  did  not  stop  here.  Orders  more 
stringent  were  issued  to  the  commanders  of  British  vessels, 
under  which  orders  American  vessels  engaged  in  the  French 
and  West  India  trade  were  seized,  carried  into  British  ports, 
and  condemned.  This  new  order  greatly  increased  the 
excitement  against  Great  Britain  ;•  and  a  war  with  that 
country  was  apprehended.  Although  this  order  was  sub 
sequently  modified,  the  excitement  was  not  allayed.  All 
who  refused  to  take  the  side  of  France  against  Great 
Britain,  were  represented  as -British  partisans.  Nor  did  it 
avail  them  to  urge  in  justification  of  their  neutrality  that 
France  had  violated  her  treaty  with  us,  and  that  our  com 
merce  had  been  harassed  no  less  by  French  privateers  than 
by  those  of  Great  Britain. 

Resolutions  proposing  preparations  for  war  and  measures 
of  retaliation,  were  introduced  in  Congress.  Before  these 
propositions  were  disposed  of,  the  President,  desirous  to 
prevent  war,  concluded  to  make  an  effort  at  negotiation, 
and  nominated  to  the  Senate  John  Jay  as  Envoy  Extraor 
dinary  to  Great  Britain.  The  nomination,  after  much 
opposition,  was  confirmed.  As  a  successful  negotiation  was 
quite  doubtful,  preparations  for  war  were  deemed  expedient, 
and  the  measures  previously  reported  were  in  part  adopted. 
Among  these  measures  were  the  requisition  for  80,000 
militia  to  be  ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  warning,  and 
for  the  levying  of  additional  duties  on  imports,  taxes  on 
carriages,  &c. 


EARLY    PARTIES.  25 

The  chief  objects  of  Mr.  Jay's  mission  were,  to  obtain 
restitution  for  spoliations  of  American  commerce,  and  the 
fulfillment  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  some  of  the  stipulations 
of  which  had  not  been  observed.  One  of  them  was  the 
surrender  of  the  Western  military  posts  which  were  still 
occupied.  These  objects  secured,  a  treaty  of  commerce 
was  to  be  proposed. 

The  charge  against  the  President  of  being  unfriendly  to 
France  seems  to  have  been  entirely  unfounded.  Mr.  Jay 
was  expressly  instructed  to  say  to  the  British  Government, 
"  that  the  United  States  would  not  derogate  from  their 
treaties  and  engagements  with  France.'7  And  to  Mr. 
Monroe,  who  was  soon  after  appointed  our  Minister  to 
France,  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Randolph,  said  :  "  The 
President  had  been  an  early  friend  of  the  French  revolution  ; 
and  whatever  reasons  there  may  have  been  to  suspend  an 
opinion  upon  some  of  its  important  transactions,  yet  is  he  im 
mutable  in  his  wishes  far  its  accomplishment.  *  *  We  have 
pursued  neutrality  with  faithfulness.  We  mean  to  retain 
the  same  line  of  conduct  in  future  ;  and  to  remove  all 
jealousy  as  to  Mr.  Jay's  mission  to  London,  you  may  say 
that  he  is  positively  forbidden  to  weaken  the  engagements 
between  this  country  and  Franco." 

The  treaty  was  concluded  on  the  19th  of  November, 
1704,  and  submitted  to  the  Senate  in  extra  session  on  the 
8th  of  June,  IT 95.  It  secured  the  first  of  the  primary 
objects  of  negotiation,  namely,  indemnity  to  American  mer 
chants  for  the  illegal  capture  of  their  property  under  British 
orders.  Also  the  Western  posts  were  to  be  surrendered, 
but  not  until  the  1st  of  June,  179G. 

Of  the  numerous  other  provisions  of  the  treaty,  some 
were  favorable,  others  unfavorable.  But  the  terms  were 
the  best  that  could  be  secured.  The  Senate  ratified  the 
treaty,  with  the  exception  of  one  provision,  which  related 
to  the  West  India  trade,  and  recommended  the  addition  of 
a  clause  suspending  its  operation  ;  leaving  for  future 
negotiation  this  question,  with  that  of  the  impressment  of 
American  seamen  and  others,  upon  which  the  parties  had 
been  unable  to  agree.  With  this  modification  the  ratifica 
tion  was  advised  by  a  vote  of  20  to  10  a  bare  constitu 
tional  majority. 


26  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

This  act  of  the  Senate  produced  great  excitement  It 
was  denounced  in  public  meeting's  and  in  newspapers. 
The  Senators  were  treated  with  indignity;  and  an  effigy  of 
Mr.  Jay  was  burned  in  Boston.  Certain  causes  of  delay 
having  occurred,  the  President  did  not  sign  the  treaty  until 
the  14th  of  August,  1795.  He  became  now  himself  an 
object  of  the  vengeance  of  the  opposition  party.  Even 
his  private  character  was  aspersed.  He  was  charged  with 
having  appropriated  public  money  for  his  private  use  ;  and 
he  had  violated  the  Constitution,  and  ought  to  be  impeached. 
The  friends  of  the  treaty,  however,  appeared  to  increase  in 
number,  it  being  deemed  unwise  to  expose  the  country  to 
a  war  not  required  by  the  national  honor. 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  British  Government  with 
the  suspending  clause  annexed  by  the  Senate  ;  and  on  the 
1st  of  March,  1796,  the  President  sent  a  copy  to  the  House, 
with  the  information  that  it  had  been  proclaimed  the  law 
of  the  land.  It  now  remained  for  the  House  to  make  pro 
vision  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect.  To  this  a  deter 
mined  opposition  was  made.  A  warm  debate  arose  which 
involved  the  Constitutional  question,  whether  the  assent  of 
the  House  was  essential  to  the  obligation  of  the  treaty  ; 
and  whether  the  President  had  a  right  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  commerce.  A  resolution  was  moved,  calling  upon  the 
President  for  a  copy  of  his  instructions  to  Mr.  Jay,  and 
other  documents  relating  to  the  treaty.  This  was  opposed 
by  the  minority,  who  maintained  that  a  treaty  was  complete 
when  assented  to  by  the  Senate,  and  signed  by  the  Presi 
dent.  After  a  long  debate,  the  resolution  was  adopted,  62 
to  37.  The  President  declined  to  comply  with  the  call,  and 
stated  at  length  his  reasons.  They  are  worthy  of  perusal, 
but  the  want  of  room  forbids  their  insertion. 

On  a  resolution,  subsequently  offered,  declaring  it  expe 
dient  to  carry  this  treaty  into  effect,  another  long  debate 
took  place,  in  which  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Gallatin  opposed 
the  treaty.  Among  thoso  in  its  favor  was  Fisher  Ames, 
whose  speech  is  so  famed  for  its  eloquence.  At  its  close, 
calls  were  made  for  the  question  ;  but  the  opposition  mem 
bers,  fearing  the  immediate  influence  of  the  speech,  post 
poned  the  question  until  the  next  day,  (April  29th,)  when 
it  was  carried  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  by  the  casting 


EARLY   PARTIES.  27 

vote  of  the  Chairman,  (Muhlenburg.)     It  was  then  reportej 
to  the  House,  and  passed,  51  to  48. 

But  the  history  of  the  "  Jay  treaty"  is  not  yet  ended 
The  French  Government,  on  being  informed  of  its  ratifica' 
tion  by  the  President,  informed  Mr.  Monroe,  our  Minister 
at  Paris,  that  the  Directory  considered  the  alliance  between 
the  United  States  and  France  terminated  by  the  treaty  ; 
that  Adet,  the  French  Minister  to  the  United  States,  would 
be  recalled  ;  and  a  special  Envoy  was  to  be  sent  to  make 
the  announcement  to  the  American  Government. 

Among  the  many  complaints  against  the  United  States 
presented  to  Mr.  Monroe  by  the  French  Government,  one 
was,  that  the  United  States,  in  their  treaty  with  Great 
Britain,  had  abandoned  the  principle,  that  free  ships  should 
make  free  goods,  and  that  naval  stores  were  made  contra 
band.  By  treaties  of  the  United  States  with  France  and 
Great  Britain,  French  property  in  American  vessels  was 
liable  to  seizure  by  British  cruisers,  while  British  goods 
were  secure  in  American  vessels.  But  of  this  France  had 
no  reason  to  complain.  Great  Britain  had  only  reserved  a 
right  to  which  she  was  entitled  by  the  Law  of  Nations  ; 
by  which  "  the  goods  of  a  friend  found  in  the  vessels  of  an 
enemy  are  free  ;  and  that  the  goods  of  an  enemy  in  tho 
vessel  of  a  friend  are  lawful  prize."  But  France,  deeming 
it  for  her  interest,  had,  in  lier  treaties  with  the  United 
States,  preferred  a  different  principle,  "  that  free  ships 
should  make  free  goods." 

It  was  the  misfortune  of  France  that  she  was  now  suffer 
ing  the  unforeseen  consequences  of  her  own  voluntary  act. 
And  she  had  the  less  reason  to  complain,  from  the  fact 
that  she  had,  in  her  treatment  of  the  United  States,  vio 
lated  her  own  principle.  She  had,  in  May,  1793,  issued  a 
decree  authorizing  the  capture  of  an  enemy's  property  in 
neutral  vessels,  under  which  decree  about  fifty  American 
vessels  had  been  captured  and  deprived  of  their  cargoes, 
and  a  greater  number  had  been  detained. 

The  French  Directory  had  determined  on  some  retalia 
tory  measures,  which  had  only  been  delayed,  in  the  hope 
that  the  House  of  Representatives  would  defeat  the  treaty 
with  Great  Britain  by  refusing  to  provide  for  carrying  it 
into  effect.  In  June,  1796,  news  of  the  decision  of  tho 


28  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

House  was  received  at  Paris  ;  and  on  the  2d  of  July  a 
decree  was  issued,  that  "  all  neutral  or  allied  powers  shall, 
without  delay,  be  notified,  that  the  flag-  of  the  French  Re 
public  will  treat  neutral  vessels,  either  as  to  confiscation,  as  to 
searches,  or  capture,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  shall  suffer  the 
English  to  treat  them." 

Evidently  the  object  of  France  was  to  defeat  the  treaty 
with  Great  Britain.  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  our  Minister 
in  Holland,  writing  to  our  Government,  said  he  had  intima 
tions  of  such  a  purpose.  The  supposition  was  strengthened 
by  a  treaty  made  in  August,  between  France  and  Spain,  by 
which  they  entered  into  an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive, 
agreeing  to  make  common  cause  to  insure  "  safety  to  the 
neutral  flag  ;"  in  other  words,  to  compel  the  United  States 
to  protect  French  and  Spanish  property  in  American  vessels, 
in  contravention  of  our  treaty  stipulation  with  Great  Brit 
ain.  Spain  also  complained  of  the  unequal  footing  upon 
which  she  had  been  placed  by  the  British  treaty,  and  made 
this  a  pretext  for  not  delivering  up  the  posts  on  the  Missis 
sippi  and  running  the  boundary  line.  Holland,  too,  then  de 
pendent  upon  Fi-ance,  joined  in  the  complaint. 

Mr.  Monroe,  on  the  alleged  ground  of  a  want  of  due 
promptitude  in  making  to  the  French  Government  the  ex 
planations  furnished  him  by  the  President  in  justification 
of  tho  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  was  recalled  by  the  Presi 
dent,  and  Mr.  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of  S.  C.,  appointed  in 
his  place,  Sept.  9,  1796.  Mr.  Monroe,  an  ardent  friend  of 
France,  had  been  appointed  in  1794,  in  the  place  of  Mr. 
Gouverneur  Morn's,  in  deference  to  his  wishes,  and  at  the 
request  of  the  French  Government,  because  the  latter  had 
manifested  too  little  zeal  for  the  French  cause. 

Mr.  Pinckney  arrived  at  Paris  in  December  ;  but  he  was 
soon  informed  that  the  Directory  would  "  no  longer  recog 
nize  a  Minister  from  the  United  States,  until  after  a  repa 
ration  of  grievances."  He  remained  there  until  about  the 
last  of  January,  when  he  received  from  the  French  Govern 
ment  a  written  notice  to  quit  the  country.  Ho  proceeded  to 
Amsterdam  to  wait  for  instructions  from  his  Government. 

We  have  now  come  to  near  the  close  of  Washington's 
administration.  Our  sketch  includes  most  of  the  principal 
measures  which  characterized  his  administration,  especially 


EARLY    PARTIES.  29 

those  which  were  subjects  of  party  controversy.  The 
reader  will  have  perceived,  that  the  spirit  of  party  then 
manifest  was  much  the  same  as  it  is  at  the  present  day. 
We  see  men  distinguished  for  their  public  services,  whose 
patriotism  we  scarcely  dare  question,  pursuing  party  ends 
by  dishonorable  means.  Probably  no  public  man  ever  en 
joyed  greater  popularity  than  Washington  ;  yet  no  admin 
istration  encountered  a  more  bitter  opposition,  nor  were 
even  the  official  acts  of  a  statesman  or  public  functionary 
more  violently  assailed.  Even  the  forged  letters  purport 
ing  to  have  been  written  by  him  in  1777,  in  opposition  to 
the  cause  of  independence  and  favorable  to  Great  Britain, 
were  republished.  But  time  has  vindicated  his  character  ; 
and  his  memory  will  be  revered  by  his  countrymen  to  the- 
latest  generation. 

Gen.  Washington  was  succeeded  by  John  Adams  as 
President.  Of  the  votes  of  the  Presidential  electors  chosen 
in  November,  1796,  Mr.  Adams  received  the  highest  num 
ber,  71,  and  was  elected  President  ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson, 
having  received  68,  the  next  highest  number,  was  elected 
Vice-President. 


30  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 


CHAPTER    II. 

From  the  Commencement  to  the  Close  of  the  Administration  of 
John  Adams. 

ON  the  4th  of  March,  1797,  John  Adams  was  inaugurated 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  The  personal  popu 
larity  of  Gen.  Washington  had  shielded  him  from  the  open 
assaults  of  the  mass  of  his  political  opponents.  In  this  re 
spect  Mr.  Adams  was  less  fortunate.  The  measures  of  his 
administration,  however,  met  with  scarcely  greater  opposi 
tion  than  those  of  his  venerated  predecessor.  The  diffi 
culties  with  France  had  not  been  settled  when  he  came  into 
office,  but  were  becoming  more  and  more  aggravated. 
And  as  our  controversy  with  France  and  Great  Britain  had 
become  in  a  great  measure  a  party  question,  a  very  peace 
ful  administration  was  hardly  to  be  expected. 

Our  Minister  had  been  virtually  expelled  from  France  ; 
and  new  license  had  been  given  to  spoliate  on  our 
commerce.  A  decree  had  been  issued,  authorizing  the 
capture  of  neutral  vessels  having  on  board  any  productions 
of  Great  Britain  or  her  possessions.  This  decree  was  in 
direct  violation  of  the  rights  of  neutral  nations,  and  espe 
cially  of  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  France, 
which  provided  that  "  free  ships  should  make  free  goods." 
Many  of  our  vessels  were  captured  under  this  decree  and 
condemned  ;  and  war  having  become  probable,  the  Presi 
dent  convened  Congress  in  special  session,  on  the  15th  of 
May,  1797.  As  there  were  in  both  Houses  majorities  in 
favor  of  the  administration,  measures  were  readily  adopted, 
both  for  preserving  peace  and  for  providing  the  means  of 
defense. 

Among  the  acts  passed  for  increasing  the  revenue,  was 
one  for  "  laying  duties  on  stamped  vellum,  parchment,  and 
paper."  This  act,  probably  from  the  similarity  of  its  title 
to  the  British  stamp  act  of  1765,  wras  highly  obnoxious  to  a 
large  portion  of  the  people. 

Attempts  at  negotiation,  however,  were  to  be  continued  ; 


EARLY    PARTIES.  31 

ana  Charles  Cotcsworth  Pinckney,  Elbridgc  Gerry,  and 
John  Marshall,  were  appointed  as  Envoys  Plenipotentiary 
to  the  French  Republic,  Mr.  Pinckney  being  then  in  Hol 
land.  The  Envoys  did  not  receive  the  usual  formal  recog 
nition  ;  but  a  mode  of  correspondence  with  them,  of  a  most 
single  nature,  was  adopted,  in  which  the  demands  of  the 
French  Government  were  made  known.  Certain  passages 
in  President  Adams'  Message  to  Congress  at  the  extra  ses 
sion  must  be  softened  before  the  Ministers  could  be 
received  ;  a  sum  of  money  was  required  for  the  pockets  of 
the  Directory  and  Ministers  ;  and  our  Government  must 
grant  theirs  a  large  loan.  Our  Ministers  being  unwilling 
to  concede  to  these  demands,  and  having  no  authority  to 
negotiate  a  loan  in  any  form,  they  proposed  that  one  of 
their  number  should  forthwith  return  home  to  consult  the 
Government,  if  the  Directory  would  suspend  all  further 
captures  of  American  vessels,  and  all  proceedings  on  those 
already  captured  :  but  this  was  refused. 

The  American  Ministers  having  objected  to  the  proposi 
tion  of  a  loan,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  amount  to  a 
declaration  of  war  on  our  part  against  Great  Britain,  Tal 
leyrand,  the  French  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  resorted 
to  artifice  to  compass  his  end,  but  failed.  At  length,  the 
Directory  having  intimated  a  disposition  to  treat  with  Mr. 
Gerry  alone,  (who  had  been  selected  from  the  party  said 
to  be  friendly  to  France,)  the  other  two  Envoys  returned 
to  the  United  States. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  1198,  the  President  transmitted  to 
Congress  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Gerry  and  Tal 
leyrand.  In  his  accompanying  Message,  he  said  :  "  I  pre 
sume  that  before  this  time  he  (Mr.  Gerry)  has  received 
fresh  instructions,  (a  copy  of  which  accompanies  this 
message,)  to  consent  to  no  loans  ;  and  therefore  the  nego 
tiation  may  be  considered  at  an  end.  I,  will  never  send 
another  Minister  to  France,  without  assurances  that  he 
will  be  received,  respected,  and  honored,  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful,  and  independent 
nation." 

At  the  next  session,  (1791-1798,)  further  provision  was 
made  for  the  public  defense  ;  and  an  act  was  passed  to 
commercial  intercourse  with  France  and  her  de- 


32  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

pendencies.  Preparations  for  war  having  been  made, 
Gen.  Washington  was  appointed  by  the  President  and 
Senate  to  take  command  of  the  army  ;  and  the  appoint 
ment  was  accepted. 

The  publication  of  the  papers  relating-  to  the  attempts  at 
negotiation,  showing  the  unceremonious  reception  of  our 
Ministers,  and  the  degrading  terms  upon  which  the  Direc 
tory  would  treat,  placed  that  Government  in  an  unfavor 
able  light  before  the  American  people  ;  and,  notwithstand 
ing  the  opposition  which  the  war  measures  received,  the 
Federal  party,  instead  of  losing,  seems  rather  to  have 
gained  popularity.  The  publication  of  these  papers  also,  it 
is  presumed,  aided  the  passage  of  the  bills  for  the  national 
defense  ;  and  they  had  so  affected  the  public  mind  as  to 
give  great  anxiety  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Madison,  urged  him  to  assist  with  his  pen  in  defending 
the  opposition  from  the  effects  of  the  publication  of  the 
v~  dispatches.  The  policy  of  the  President  was  also  approved 
i  in  numerous  public  meetings  ;  and  but  for  those  two 
famous  acts  familiarly  known  as  the  "  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws,"  the  Federal  party  would  perhaps  have  retained  its 
ascendency. 

The  propriety  of  these  laws  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  dis 
cuss.  Their  nature  and  object,  however,  it  is  proper  to 
state  for  the  information  of  those  who  are  unacquainted 
with  their  provisions  and  their  history.  There  were  in 
this  country  thousands  of  Frenchmen,  combined  in  organ 
ized  associations,  and  large  numbers  of  British  subjects, 
who  were  deemed  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  United 
States.  "With  a  view  to  the  public  safety ,•  was  passed  the 
Act,  entitled,  "  An  Act  concerning  Aliens."  This  Act  au 
thorized  the  President  to  order  out  of  the  country  all  aliens 
whom  he  should  suspect  of  any  treasonable  designs  against 
the  Government.  Any  person  remaining  in  the  country 
after  the  time  mentioned  for  his  departure,  without  a 
license  from  the  President,  was  liaMo  to  imprisonment  not 
exceeding  three  years,  and  might  never  be  admitted  to  be 
come  a  citizen.  And  the  President,  on  satisfactory  proof 
that  the  residence  of  such  alien  was  not  dangerous,  might 
grant  him  a  license  to  remain  for  a  time  and  at  a  place 
specified.  He  m/ght  also  require  a  bond  with  sureties  for 


EARLY   PARTIES.  33 

good  behavior.  The  act,  among  several  other  provisions, 
secured  to  aliens  the  right  to  dispose  of  their  property.  It 
was  limited  to  the  term  of  two  3Tears  from  its  passage. 

The  "  Sedition  Law"  was  entitled,  "An  Act,  in  addition 
to  an  Act,  entitled,  '  An  Act  for  the  punishment  of  certain 
crimes  against  the  United  States.'  "  This  act  provided  for 
punishing  conspiracies  to  oppose  any  measure  or  law  of  the 
Government,  or  to  hinder  any  public  officer  in  the  perform 
ance  of  his  duty,  or  to  attempt  to  procure  a  riot,  or  an  in 
surrection.  Such  offense  was  punishable  by  a  fine  not 
exceeding  $5,000,  and  imprisonment  not  less  than  six 
months,  nor  exceeding  five  years ;  and  the  Court  might 
require  sureties  for  good  behavior.  The  law  also  provided, 
that  any  person  convicted  of  writing,  printing,  uttering-,  or 
publishing  any  false,  scandalous,  or  malicious  writing,  or 
of  aiding  to  do  the  same,  against  the  Government,  Con 
gress,  or  the  President,  with  intent  to  defame  them  or  to 
bring  them  into  disrepute,  or  to  stir  up  sedition,  or  to  ex 
cite  any  unlawful  opposition  to  any  law  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  aid  or  abet  any  hostile  designs  of  any  foreign 
nation  against  the  people  or  Government  of  the  United 
States,  should  be  fined  not  exceeding  $2,000,  and  im 
prisoned  not  exceeding  two  years.  But,  contrary  to  the 
English  law  of  libel,  then  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  this 
country,  which  did  riot  permit  the  defendant  to  justify  by 
proving  the  truth  of  the  statement  charged  as  libelous,  this 
law  admitted  such  justification,  and  allowed  conviction 
only  when  the  defendant  failed  to  prove  the  truth  of  his 
statement.  This  provision,  which  had  then  been  adopted 
only  in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Vermont, 
has  since  been  incorporated  into  the  Constitution  or  the 
laws  of  every  State  in  the  Union  ;  qualified,  however,  by  a 
provision,  that  the  statement  shall  have  been  made  from 
good  motives  and  justifiable  ends.  The  act  was  to  con 
tinue  in  force  until  the  3d  of  March,  1801. 

These  laws,  now  so  generally  regarded  with  disfavor, 
were,  by  many  great  and  good  men,  among  whom  were 
Washington  and  Patrick  Henry,  considered  good  and 
wholesome  laws,  justified  by  the  state  of  things. 

These  laws  were  denounced  by  the  leaders  of  the  oppo 
sition  party  as  infractions  of  the  Constitutional  guaranties 


34  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

of  personal  liberty,  and  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 
The  Sedition  Act,  especially,  was  held  up  to  public  oppro 
brium  as  the  "  gag  law/' 

To  array  public  sentiment  the  more  effectually  against 
these  laws,  appeals  were  made  to  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States,  soliciting  their  action  upon  the  subject.  Here 
originated  the  famed  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions 
of  1798  and  1799,  which  were  for  a  long  time  referred  to 
as  containing  the  essence  of  the  old  Republican  or  Demo 
cratic  creed.  Resolutions,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Jefferson  for 
that  purpose,  were  introduced  in  the  Kentucky  Legisla 
ture,  and  passed  in  November,  1798.  As  these  resolutions 
have  been  so  often  cited  by  the  advocates  of  the  Southern 
doctrine  of  State  Rights,  or  Nullification,  in  support  of  that 
heresy,  they  deserve  particular  attention.  They  declare, 
that  the  Union  is  a  compact  between  the  States,  as  States  ; 
that,  as  in  other  cases  of  compact  between  parties  having  no 
common  judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as 
well  of  infractions,  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress  ;"  that 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  were  "  not  law,  but  altogether 
void,  and  of  no  force ;"  that,  "  in  cases  of  an  abuse  of  dele 
gated  powers,  the  members  of  the  General  Government 
being  chosen  by  the  people,  any  change  by  the  people 
would  be  the  Constitutional  remedy  ;  but  where  powers 
are  assumed  which  have  not  been  delegated,  a  nullification 
of  the  act  is  the  right  remedy :  and  that  every  State  has  a 
natural  right,  in  cases  not  within  the  compact,  to  nullify,  of 
their  own  authority,  all  assumptions  of  power  by  others  with 
in  their  limits." 

The  Virginia  Resolutions,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Madison, 
then  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  at  the  re 
quest,  it  is  said,  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  were  adopted  the  21st  of 
December,  1798.  They  declared,  that  the  Constitution  was 
a  compact  to  \vhich  the  States  were  parties,  granting 
limited  powers  ;  that  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and 
dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers  not  granted  by  the  com 
pact,  the  States  hall  the  right  to  interpose  for  arresting  the 
progress  of  the  evils,  and  for  maintaining  the  rights  of  the 
States  within  their  respective  limits  ;  and  that  the  Alien 
and  Sedition  Laws  were  palpable  infractions  of  the  Consti 
tution.  They  also  solicited  the  concurrence  of  other  States 


EARLY   PARTIES.  35 

in  these  declarations,  and  requested  the  Governor  to  trans 
mit  them  for  this  purpose  to  the  several  State  Executives 
to  be  communicated  to  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and 
to  each  of  the  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  of  Virginia  in 
Congress.  No  State,  it  is  believed,  responded  favorably  to 
the  solicitation  ;  some  of  the  States  expressly  disapproved 
the  Resolutions. 

At  their  next  sessions,  the  Legislatures  of  Virginia  and 
Kentucky,  in  reply  to  the  answers  of  the  State  Legisla 
tures,  reasserted  the  doctrines  of  the  Resolutions.  The 
Report  on  the  subject  by  Mr.  Madison  concluded  with  a 
resolution  declaring  their  adherence  to  the  Resolutions  of 
1798,  and  renewing  their  protest  against  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws  as  palpable  and  alarming  infractions  of  the 
Constitution.  The  Report  and  resolution  were  adopted  in 
February,  1800.  On  the  25th  of  June  of  that  year,  the 
Alien  Law  expired  by  its  own  limitation  ;  the  Sedition  Act 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1801. 

The  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions  involve  Consti 
tutional  principles  which  have  been  the  subject  of  much 
discussion.  Though  once  the  grand  article  of  the  creed  of 
a  dominant  party,  they  are  now  generally  repudiated  as 
disorganizing  and  revolutionary.  They  will  require  further 
notice  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  work. 

But  Mr.  Adams,  before  the  close  of  his  term  of  office, 
found  other  opposition  than  that  of  the  Republican  party. 
He  had  lost  the  confidence  and  support  of  many  of  his  own 
party.  This  alienation  of  his  friends  had  been  caused,  in 
a  great  measure,  by  his  course  on  the  French  question.  He 
had  declared,  as  the  reader  will  recollect,  that  he  would 
"  never  send  another  Minister  to  France,  without  assur 
ances  that  he  would  be  received,  respected,  and  honored, 
as  the  representative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful,  and  inde 
pendent  nation."  Believing  that  there  was  not  sufficient 
evidence  of  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  French  Govern 
ment  to  enter  upon  an  honorable  negotiation,  many  of  his 
political  friends  highly  disapproved  of  his  determination  to 
send  other  Ministers  to  that  country.  The  principal  evi 
dence  upon  which  the  President  acted,  was,  that  France, 
induced,  probably,  by  the  war  measures  which  Congress 
had  adopted,  had  indicated  a  willingness  to  relinquish  her 


36  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

demand  as  a  preliminary  to  negotiation,  and  to  treat  on 
reasonable  terms.  Knowing  that  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet, 
Messrs.  Pickering,  Wolcott,  and  M' Henry,  were  opposed 
to  renewing  the  mission  under  existing  circumstances,  the 
nominations  were  made  to  the  Senate  without  consulting 
his  Cabinet  or  any  of  his  friends.  The  gentlemen  selected 
for  the  mission  were  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  States,  Patrick  Henry,  and  William  Vans  Murray, 
then  Minister  Resident  in  the  Netherlands.  Mr.  Henry, 
though  friendly  to  the  administration,  declined  the  appoint 
ment  from  "  absolute  necessity."  William  Davie,  of  N.  C., 
was  appointed  in  his  place. 

The  willingness,  on  the  part  of  the  Directory,  to  receive 
a  Minister  from  our  Government,  had  been  communicated 
to  Mr.  Murray  ;  and  it  was  intimated  to  him  that  he  would 
be  acceptable  to  the  French  Government.  The  name  of 
Mr.  Murray  alone  was  accordingly  sent  to  the  Senate. 
The  Committee  of  the  Senate  to  whom  the  nomination  had 
been  referred,  being  unfriendly  to  a  renewal  of  the  negoti 
ation  without  further  assurance  from  the  French  Govern 
ment,  and  having  intimated  an  intention  to  report  against 
the  nomination,  the  President  sent  the  names  of  Ellsworth 
and  Henry,  who  were  to  be  added  to  the  mission.  But 
none  of  the  Ministers  were  to  proceed  to  France  until  more 
direct  assurances  should  be  given  that  they  would  be  duly 
received.  With  this  understanding,  the  Senate  consented 
to  the  appointment. 

The  former  friends  of  the  President,  who  had  been  for 
some  time  disaffected  towards  him,  and  whom  his  course 
had  now  entirely  estranged — among  whom  were  Mr.  Ham 
ilton,  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  other  distinguished  and 
influential  men — doubted  the  sincerity  of  the  French  Gov 
ernment  ;  and  they  considered  it  derogatory  to  the  national 
honor  to  accept  an  offer  to  negotiate,  until  the  decrees 
against  our  commerce  should  be  repealed.  The  principal 
motive  which  is  supposed  to  have  dictated  the  course  of  the 
President,  was  his  desire  to  avoid  a  war  which  he  had 
reason  to  believe  would  have  met  with  the  opposition  of 
the  party  opposed  to  him,  and  which,  he  feared,  would  be 
rendered  the  more  unpopular  by  the  large  increase  of  tax 
ation  which  it  would  require. 


EARLY   PARTIES.  37 

Mr.  Murray,  pursuant  to  instructions,  informed  the 
French  Government  that  our  Ministers  waited  for  positive 
assurances  of  a  favorable  reception,  and  received  an  answer 
from  the  Directory,  through  Talleyrand,  assuring  him  that 
the  Envoys  would  be  received  and.  "  should  enjoy  all  the 
prerogatives  which  are  attached  to  their  official  character 
by  the  Law  of  Nations,  and  that  one  or  more  Ministers 
should  be  duly  authorized  to  treat  with  them." 

On  the  receipt  of  this  assurance,  the  President,  against 
the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet,  ordered  the  Envoys 
to  prepare  for  their  departure,  and  directed  the  Secretary 
of  State  to  make  a  draft  of  instructions  to  them.  But 
before  their  departure,  intelligence  was  received  of  another 
revolution  in  France,  and  a  consequent  change  of  the 
Directory,  with  a  single  exception,  which  rendered  it  doubt 
ful  whether  the  Envoys  would  be  received  ;  and  the  Cabinet 
unanimously  advised  the  President  to  suspend  the  mission. 
The  President,  notwithstanding,  ordered  the  embarkation 
of  the  two  Envoys,  who  sailed  on  the  3d  of  November, 
1799.  By  this  act  of  the. President,  the  separation  between 
himself  and  a  majority  of  his  Cabinet,  and  many  of  his 
party  friends,  was  rendered  complete. 

Congress  met  in  December,  1799.  The  President  in  his 
address  alluded  to  his  having  received  the  assurances  re 
quired  by  the  French  Government  in  relation  to  the  recep 
tion  of  our  Envoys,  and  of  their  having  proceeded  on  their 
mission.  The  two  Houses,  in  their  answers  to  his  speech, 
expressed  their  approbation  of  his  course  towards  France. 
A  majority  of  the  Cabinet  officers  being  no  longer  his 
friends,  the  President,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  (May, 
1800,)  requested  Mr.  Pickering  and  Mr.  M'Henry,  Secreta 
ries  of  State  and  of  War,  to  resign.  The  latter  complied ;  tho 
former,  preferring  a  dismissal,  refused.  John' Marshall,  of 
Virginia,  and  Samuel  Dexter,  of  Massachusetts,  were  ap 
pointed  in  their  places. 

The  Envoys,  in  consequence  of  detentions  on  the  way, 
did  not  reach  Paris  until  the  2d  of  March,  1800.  Mr. 
Murray  had  arrived  the  day  before.  They  were  duly  re 
ceived  ;  and  three  Plenipotentiaries  were  appointed  to 
negotiate  with  them. 

There  was  great  difficulty  in  agreeing  upon  the  terms  of 


38  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

treaty.  According  to  the  instructions  to  our  Ministers,  the 
old  treaties  were  not  to  be  renewed.  They  had  been  de 
clared  void  by  Congress,  having  been  dissolved  by  the 
aggressions  of  France  upon  our  commerce.  Being  so  con 
sidered,  our  Government  had,  in  the  Jay  treaty  with  Great 
Britain,  agreed,  that  the  ships  of  war  and  privateers  of 
both  parties  should  be  permitted  to  enter  each  other's  ports 
with  prizes  ;  and  no  shelter  was  to  be  given  in  their  ports 
to  such  as  had  made  prizes  upon  our  citizens  or  subjects 
of  either  of  the  parties.  A  revival  ef  the  old  treaties 
would  therefore  interfere  with  our  engagements  with  Great 
Britain.  The  French  Ministers  were  unwilling  to  admit 
the  nullity  of  the  old  treaty  of  1778,  as  to  do  so  would  ex 
clude  French  privateers  and  prizes  from  the  ports  of  the 
United  States. 

An  arrangement  seemed  for  a  long  time  impracticable. 
Yet  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties  between  the  two  countries 
was  to  this  country  very  desirable.  There  was  danger  of  a 
war  with  France.  The  successes  of  Bonaparte  rendered  a 
general  peace  in  Europe  a  probable  event,  which  would  leave 
us  alone  in  a  contest  with  that  power.  We  wished  to  relieve 
our  commerce  from  further  exposure  to  depredations  from  the 
French.  And  we  wished  to  save  a  large  amount  of  captured 
property  not  yet  condemned;  there  being  more  than  forty 
ships  and  cargoes  awaiting  decision  before  the  French  council 
of  prizes. 

A  treaty  was  at  length  concluded  the  30th  of  September. 
1800.  Its  principal  provisions  were  the  following :  The 
binding  force  of  the  old  treaties,  and  the  mutual  claims  for 
indemnities,  were  reserved  for  future  negotiation.  All  public 
ships,  and  all  property  captured  by  either  party,  and  not  yet 
condemned,  were  to  be  restored.  All  government  and  indi 
vidual  debts  due  were  to  be  paid.  The  vessels  of  either  party 
were  to  enjoy  in  the  ports  of  the  other,  equal  privileges  with 
those  of  the  most  favored  nation.  The  provision  of  the  old 
treaty,  that  free  ships  should  make  free  goods,  was  retained. 
And  provision  was  made  for  the  future  security  of  American 
commerce.  The  article  allowing  French  privateers  and  prizes 
equal  privileges  with  those  of  the  most  favored  nation,  was 
inserted  by  the  French  Ministers,  after  repeated  declarations 
from  our  Ministers,  that  this  stipulation  could  have  no  effect 


EARLY   PARTIES.  39 

as  against  our  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  Mr.  King,  our 
Minister  at  London,  presented  this  matter  to  the  British 
Government,  and  was  told  that  they  saw  in  it  no  cause  of 
complaint. 

The  treaty  was  laid  before  the  Senate  at  the  next  session 
of  Congress,  which  met  this  year,  (Nov.  17,  1800,)  at  "Wash 
ington.  The  Federal  Senators  opposed  to  Mr.  Adams  and  the 
new  mission,  disapproved  the  treaty,  because  it  did  not  provide 
for  the  payment  of  indemnities,  and  for  the  renunciation  of 
the  old  treaties ;  and  an  article  was  adopted  limiting  the  term  of 
the  convention  to  eight  years,  as  a  substitute  for  that  which 
referred  the  question  of  indemnity  and  the  old  treaties  to 
future  negotiation.  The  President,  though  he  considered  the 
alteration  as  being  for  the  worse,  ratified  it,  and  appointed 
James  A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  as  Minister  to  carry  the  treaty 
with  the  Amendment  to  France  for  ratification  by  that  Gov 
ernment  Mr.  Bayard  declined  that  appointment;  and  the 
Presidential  term  of  Mr.  Adams  being  near  to  a  close,  he  left 
the  matter  to  his  successor. 

The  event  showed  the  mistake  of  the  Senate.  When 
the  amended  treaty  was  submitted  to  Bonaparte,  he  added 
a  proviso,  that  the  expunging  of  the  article  relating  to  indem 
nity  and  old  treaties,  should  be  considered  as  a  lelinquish- 
ment  of  claims  for  indemnity.  With  this  amendment,  it  was 
ratified  by  our  Government.  Thus  did  France  succeed  in  ob 
taining  what  she  had  proposed  to  our  Ministers — a  new  treaty 
without  indemnities. 

Among  the  acts  passed  during  Mr.  Adams'  administration, 
was  a  naturalization  law,  by  which  the  term  of  residence  of 
an  alien,  in  order  to  become  a  citizen,  was  changed  from  five 
years  to  fourteen ;  and  the  time  of  making  the  application 
previous  to  admission,  which  was  three  years,  was  changed 
to  five  years.  This  act  was  passed  in  1798,  the  year  in  which 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  were  enacted. 

An  act  was  passed  near  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Con 
gress  under  his  administration,  which  gave  great  dissatisfaction 
to  his  opponents.  To  prevent  delays  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  caused  by  the  great*  extent  of  the  circuits  and -districts 
in  which  the  courts  were  held,  the  number  of  judicial  dtstricts, 
thirteen,  composing  three  circuits,  was  increased  to  twenty- 
three,  and  the  numbers  of  circuits  to  six.  The  objection  to 


40  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

the  passage  of  the  act  was,  that  it  gave  to  the  President,  less 
than  three  weeks  before  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office, 
the  appointment  of  a  large  number  of  judges,  attorneys,  and 
marshals. 

A  Presidential  election  was  approaching.  The  Federal 
candidates  were  John  Adams  and  C.  C.  Pinckney.  The 
Federal  opponents  of  Mr.  Adams,  preferring  Mr.  Pinckney 
for  President,  endeavored,  by  secret  efforts,  to  secure  him  the 
largest  number  of  electoral  votes.  This  would,  by  the  then 
existing  mode  of  election,  in  case  the  Federal  party  were  still 
in  the  majority,  make  Mr.  Pinckney  the  President.  [See 
Cons.,  original  Article.]  Mr.  Adams,  apprised  of  their  scheme, 
and  supposing  the  opposition  to  him  had  arisen  from  their 
partialities  for  England  and  his  desire  to  avoid  a  war  with 
France,  stigmatized  them  as  a  British  faction.  Mr.  Hamilton 
was  among  the  most  active  in  this  attempt  to  defeat  Mr. 
Adams.  Mr.  Adams  received  all  the  Federal  votes,  65 ;  Mr. 
Pinckney  received  6-1,  and  John  Jay  1.  Jefferson  and  Burr, 
the  Republican  candidates,  received  each  73.  Neither  of  the 
two  latter  having  a  majority,  the  election  devolved  upon  the 
House  of  Representatives,  voting  by  States.  After  a  week's 
unsuccessful  balloting,  Mr.  Jefferson  received  the  votes  of 
eight  States;  Mr.  Burr  received  the  votes  of  six  States;  and 
two  States  were  equally  divided.  Mr.  Jefferson  then,  on  the 
36th  ballot,  received  the  votes  of  ten  States.  This  result  was 
effected  by  the  casting  of  blank  ballots  by  three  Federal 
members  who  preferred  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Burr. 

The  design  was  charged  upon  the  Federalists  in  the  House 
of  standing  out  and  preventing  an  election,  and  of  passing  an 
act  to  vest  the  Executive  authority  in  some  high  officer  of. 
the  Government.  But  the  charge  has  been  disproved.  James 
A.  Bayard,  member  of  the  House  from  Delaware,  afterwards 
Senator  in  Congress,  and  one  of  the  Commissioners  who 
negotiated  the  peace  with  Great  Britain,  was  implicated  in 
the  charge.  But  in  a  deposition,  April  3, 1 806,  he  denied  the 
charge,  and  stated  the  reasons  for  holding  out  so  long.  This 
deposition  was  confirmed  by  George  Baer,  one  of  the  Federal 
members  from  Ataryland,  who,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  in  1830, 
solemnly  declared,  that  a  proposition  to  prevent  an  election 
and  to  usurp  the  legislative  power  was  not  made ;  but  they 
were  pledged  to  each  other  to  elect  a  President  before  the 


EARLY    PARTIES.  41 

close  of  the  session.  Mr.  Bayard,  in  his  deposition,  assigned 
as  a  reason  for  the  delay,  an  attempt,  on  their  part,  to  obtain 
from  Mr.  Jefferson,  through  his  friends,  assurances  that  he 
would,  if  elected,  sustain  the  public  credit;  maintain  the  naval 
system;  and  not  remove  the  subordiuate  officers;  and  that 
these  assurances  having  been  made,  the  opposition  of  Vermont, 
Maryland  and  Delaware  was  withdrawn. 


42  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 


CHAPTER   III. 

From  the  Commencement  of  Mr.  Jefferson's   Administration  to  the 
Close  of  the  Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1801.  The*  general  policy  of  the  Government  having  been 
established,  few  measures  of  great  importance  claimed  the 
attention  of  the  new  administration. 

Mr.  Adams  had  made  a  considerable  number  of  appoint 
ments  just  before  the  close  of  his  term  of  office.  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  considered  this  an  infringement  of  his  prerogative. 
The  commissions  of  some  of  them  having  not  yet  been 
delivered,  ho  suppressed  these  commissions,  and  made  new 
appointments.  Great  objection  was  also  made  to  the  ap 
pointments  of  judges  and  other  officers  in  conformity  with 
the  provisions  of  the  new  Judiciary  act,  which  has  been 
noticed.  The  judges  holding  their  offices  during  good 
behavior,  they  could  be  removed  only  by  repealing  the  act, 
which  was  accordingly  done  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 

An  act  was  also  passed  repealing  the  duty  on  stills, 
domestic  distilled  spirits,  refined  sugars,  licenses  to  retail 
ers,  sales  at  auction,  carriages,  stamped  paper,  &c.  ;  also 
an  act  to  repeal  the  naturalization  law  of  the  preceding 
administration  which  had  prolonged  the  term  of  residence 
required  of  aliens  previous  to  their  admission  as  citizens. 

The  great  measure  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration,  was 
the  purchase  of  Louisiana.  The  negotiation  was  an  inter 
esting  one.  Our  Government  had  contemplated  merely  an 
arrangement  by  which,  for  the  security  and  convenience  of 
our  commerce,  territory  on  the  East  side  of  the  Mississippi, 
including  New  Orleans,  might  be  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  and  the  Mississippi  made  a  common  boundary,  with 
a  common  use  of  its  navigation  for  them  and  Spain — the 
latter,  being  supposed  to  be  in  possession  of  Louisiana  and 
the  Floridas.  It  was  ascertained,  however,  that  by  a  secret 


EARLY   PAETIES.  43 

treaty,  Louisiana  had  been  ceded  to  France.  Bonaparte, 
being  in  want  of  money,  proposed  to  our  Minister  in  that 
country,  (R.  R.  Livingston,)  to  sell  the  whole  of  Louisiana. 
Although  our  Minister,  (Mr.  Monroe  having  been  sent  to 
aid  Mr.  Livingston,)  were  not  authorized  to  buy  the  whole 
territory  ;  yet,  as  no  treaty  could  bind  the  United  States 
until  ratified  by  our  Government,  terms  for  the  whole  were 
agreed  upon  by  the  parties  ;  and  the  treaty  was  ratified  by 
both  Governments.  Mr.  Jefferson,  though  he  admitted  the 
purchase  and  annexation  to  be  unauthorized  by  the  Consti 
tution,  thought  the  acquisition  too  valuable  to  be  lost, 
signed  the  treaty,  and  proposed  an  ex  post  facto  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  to  give  sanction  to  the  measure  ;  but  it 
was  never  attempted.  It  was,  however,  argued  by  some, 
and  is  believed  by  many  at  the  present  day,  that  the  power 
to  acquire  territory  by  war,  purchase,  or  treaty,  properly 
and  naturally  belongs  to  every  independent  sovereignty. 
It  was  stipulated  in  the  treaty,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
ceded  territory  should  be  incorporated  into  the  Union,  and 
admitted  as  soon  as  possible,  according  to  the  principles  of 
the  Federal  Constitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights, 
advantages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  ;  and  that,  in  the 
mean  time,  they  should  be  protected  in  the  free  enjoyment 
of  their  liberty,  property,  and  religion. 

In  1804,  the  territory  was  divided ;  the  South  part  of  it 
being  called  Orleans,  the  residue,  the  District  of  Louisiana. 
The  act  prohibited  the  bringing  of  slaves  into  the  Territory 
of  Orleans  from  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  or 
from  any  of  the  States  such  as  had  been  imported  since  the 
1st  of  May,  1798.  Thus  early  was  recognized  the  power 
of  the  General  Government  over  Slavery  in  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States. 

It  had  been  the  policy  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  predecessors  to 
encourage  an  effective  fortification  of  our  harbors,  and  tho 
maintenance  of  an  efficient  navy.  Mr.  Jefferson  recom 
mended  a  less  expensive  system  of  defense,  which  was 
adopted,  and  which  came  to  be  called  the  "  gun-bdat  sys 
tem."  In  1803,  an  act  was  passed,  authorizing  the  Presi 
dent  to  procure  the  building  of  fifteen  small  vessels,  called 
gun-boats,  for  which  $50,000  were  appropriated.  His  plan 
was  to  build  about  two  hundred  'and  fifty  of  theso  boats, 


44  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

twenty-five  every  year.  The  aggregate  cost  was  estimated 
at  about  one  million  of  dollars.  A  substitute  was  also  to 
be  provided  for  the  usual  expensive  fortifications.  This 
plan  of  defense,  however,  proved  a  failure.  Before  it  was 
completed,  Congress  refused  to  make  further  appropriations 
for  building  gun-boats  ;  and  the  measure  was  abandoned. 

During  the  new  war  between  France  and  Great  Britain, 
which  commenced  in  1803,  and  in  which  most  of  the  pow 
ers  of  Europe  became  involved,  the  merchant  vessels  of 
the  belligerent  nations,  from  their  exposure  to  capture, 
were  withdrawn  from  the  ocean.  This  gave  to  the  United 
States  and  other  neutral  maritime  nations  an  unusually 
profitable  carrying  trade  with  the  belligerent  countries,  on 
established  principles  of  national  law  recognized  by  Great 
Britain  herself :  that  the  goods  of  a  neutral,  consisting  of 
articles  not  contraband  of  war,  in  neutral  vessels,  employed 
in  a  direct  trade  between  a  neutral  and  a  belligerent  coun 
try,  are  protected,  except  in  ports  invested  or  blockaded. 
A  large  portion  of  this  trade  consisted  in  carrying  goods 
from  colonies  of  the  enemies  of  Great  Britain  to  their  parent 
countries.  Great  Britain  alleged  that  this  trade  was  un 
lawful,  on  the  principle  that  a  trade  from  a  colony  to  its 
parent  country,  not  being  permitted  to  other  nations  in 
time  of  peace,  can  not  be  made  lawful  in  time  of  war  ;  and 
an  order  was  issued  for  the  capture  of  our  vessels  ;  and  a 
large  number  were  captured.  One  object  of  this  measure 
was  to  distress  Napoleon  and  his  allies. 

The  President,  January,  1806,  laid  the  subject  before 
Congress  ;  and  he  also  noticed  the  impressment  of  our  sea 
men  by  Great  Britain.  It  had  been  her  practice — and  she 
claimed  it  as  her  right — to  search  American  vessels  in  pur 
suit  of  British  seamen  ;  and,  in  so  doing,  had  taken  many 
of  our  own  native  citizens,  and  forcibly  impressed  them 
into  her  service. 

In  May,  1806,  were  issued  the  celebrated  British  orders 
in  council,  declaring  the  principal  ports  on  the  Western 
coast  of  the  continent  of  Europe  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
These  orders  were  soon  followed,  on  the  part  of  Xapoleon, 
by  the  Berlin  decree,  (so  called  from  its  having  been  issued 
by  him  while  in  that  city  on  his  way  northward,)  declaring 
the  British  Islands  in  a  state  of  blockade,  and  prohibiting 


EARLY    PARTIES.  45 

all  commerce  with  them.  It  was  his  purpose  to  stop  all 
trade  between  Great  Britain  and  the  continent.  A  more 
stringent  order  than  the  first  was  then  issued  by  the  Brit 
ish  Government,  which  was  followed  by  the  Milan  decree 
of  Napoleon.  Both  Governments  carried  their  restrictive 
measures  to  the  greatest  extremes,  to  the  destruction  of 
American  commerce.  These  blockades  were  unlawful,  not 
being  maintained  by  adequate  force.  Hence  they  were,  as 
they  were  termed,  mere  "  paper  blockades."  It  was  by 
some  supposed  to  be  the  object  of  both  parties  to  drive  the 
Americans  from  their  neutral  position. 

The  seizure  of  our  ships,  cargoes,  and  men,  induced  Con 
gress,  in  December,  1S07,  on  recommendation  of  President 
Jefferson,  to  pass  the  famous  Embargo  law,  which  pro 
hibited  American  vessels,  in  order  to  their  safety,  from 
leaving  our  ports.  Perhaps  another  object  of  the  measure 
was  a  preparation  for  war. 

This  controversy  had  become  a  party  question  in  this 
country.  The  Federalists,  from  certain  facts  which  had 
been  elicited,  suspected  that  the  object  of  the  Embargo  was 
to  aid  Bonaparte  in  crippling  the  commerce  of  Great  Brit 
ain.  France  having  a  comparatively  limited  foreign  com 
merce,  the  blow  would  fall  with  greater  weight  upon  her 
enemy,  whose  foreign  trade  was  very  extensive.  The  sus 
picion  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  subserviency  to  France  was 
strengthened  by  certain  letters  ;  one  Mr.  Armstrong,  our 
Minister  in  France,  to  Mr.  Madison,  our  Secretary  of  State, 
stating  that  Napoleon  had  declared,  that  "  the  Americans 
should  be  compelled  to  take  the  positive  character  of  either 
allies  or  enemies."  The  letter  also  stated,  that  several  of 
our  ships  and  cargoes  had  been  confiscated,  contrary  to 
previous  assurances  given.  Another  of  these  letters  was 
from  Mr.  Canning,  the  British  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
to  Mr.  Pinknoy,  our  Minister  in  London,  giving  assurance 
of  a  friendly  disposition  towards  this  country,  and  express 
ing  a  strong  desire  "  to  accommodate  the  orders  in  council, 
as  far  as  was  consistent  with  their  object,  to  the  feelings 
and  interests  of  the  American  Government  and  people." 
These  two  documents,  so  different  in  their  character,  the 
President  did  not  see  fit  to  publish  ;  and  their  suppression 
was  attributed  to  the  fear  that  the  people,  seeing  the  con- 


46  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

trast  between  them,  would  disapprove  the  course  of  the 
Government  toward  the  two  countries.  And  since  the 
death  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  the  publication  of  his  corres 
pondence,  reference  has  been  made  to  a  letter  from  him  to 
a  friend  in  1808,  in  which  he  pronounces  the  condemnation 
of  our  vessels  taken  by  the  French  privateers  piracy,  which, 
the  Federalists  thought,  rendered  her  equally  deserving  of 
retaliatory  legislation. 

The  embargo  affected  very  seriously  the  shipping  of  New 
England  ;  and  the  complaints  in  that  quarter  were  loud 
and  unceasing  during  its  continuance.  It  was  repealed  in 
March,  1809,  by  the  non-intercourse  law,  which  prohibited 
all  intercourse  with  France  and  Great  Britain  ;  but  pro 
vided,  that,  if  either  nation  should  so  revoke  or  modify  her 
edicts  as  that  they  should  cease  to  violate  our  neutral  com 
merce,  trade  with  that  nation  should  be  renewed. 

In  August,  1810,  Mr.  Madison  being  President,  our 
Minister  in  Paris  was  informed,  that  the  Berlin  and  Milan 
decrees  were  revoked,  and  would  cease  to  have  effect  after 
the  1st  of  November  following  ;  stating  as  a  reason  for  the 
revocation,  that  our  Congress  had  retraced  its  steps,  and 
had  engaged  to  oppose  Great  Britain,  which  had  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  rights  of  neutrals  ;  and  stating,  also,  as 
a  condition  of  the  repeal  of  the  decrees,  that  "the  English 
shall  revoke  their  orders  in  council,  and  renounce  the  new 
principles  of  blockade  which  they  have  wished  to  establish  ; 
or  that  the  United  States  shall  cause  their  rights  to  be  re 
spected  by  the  English."  Considering  this  as  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  repeal  of  the  decrees,  the  President,  by 
proclamation,  declared  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  act 
of  May  to  be  removed  as  against  France  ;  and  Congress 
passed  an  act  declaring  them  in  force  against  Great 
Britain. 

The  British  Government  did  not  consider  this  conditional 
repeal  such  as  to  justify  the  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council. 
A  long  correspondence  between  our  Government  and  that 
of  Great  Britain  ensued,  for  which  the  reader  is  referred  to 
our  larger  histories. 

There  being  so  much  doubt  *as  to  the  revocation  of  the 
French  decrees,  Mr.  Smith,  Secretary  of  State,  prepared  a 
letter  to  the  French  Minister  at  Washington,  in  which, 


EARLY    PARTIES.  47 

among  a  long  list  of  questions,  he  inquired  whether  the  de 
crees  had  been  revoked  ;  or  whether  he  could  give  any 
assurance  in  relation  to  their  revocation  or  modification. 
But  the  President  interdicted  the  sending  of  the  letter. 

War  was  declared  the  18th  of  June,  1812.  The  vote  in 
the  Senate  was  19  to  13  ;  in  the  House,  19  to  49.  Of  those 
who  voted  against  the  war,  15  were  Republicans.  Before 
the  adjournment,  the  Federal  members  of  the  House,  with 
the  exception  of  2,  joined  in  an  address  to  their  constitu 
ents,  in  which  they  reviewed  the  controversy  between  the 
three  Governments,  with  the  view  of  showing  the  impro 
priety  and  injustice  of  declaring  war,  and  of  making  a  dis 
tinction  between  France  and  Great  Britain.  On  the  latter 
point,  they  say  :  "If  honor  demands  a  war  with  England, 
what  opiate  lulls  that  honor  to  sleep  over  the  wrongs  done 
us  by  France  ?  On  land,  robberies,  seizures,  imprisonments 
by  French  authority  ;  at  sea,  pillage,  sinkings,  burnings 
under  French  orders.  These  are  notorious.  Are  they  un- 
felt  because  they*  are  French  ?  Is  any  alleviation  to  be 
found  in  the  correspondence  and  humiliations  of  the  present 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  the  French 
court  ?  In  his  communications  to  our  Government,  as 
before  the  public,  where  is  the  cause  for  selecting  Franco 
as  the  friend  of  our  country,  and  England  the  enemy  ?" 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Federal  party  was  opposed  to 
the  declaration  of  war  ;  but  many  gave  it  their  support  as 
a  measure  of  the  Government.  Among  the  men  of  distinc 
tion  of  this  latter  class,  was  John  Adams. 

A  few  days  after  the  declaration,  a  copy  of  the  decree  of 
Napoleon,  dated  April  28,  1811,  was  received,  repealing 
the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.  The  British  Minister  soon 
took  his  departure,  bearing  a  letter  proposing  to  the  Brit 
ish  Government  a  suspension  of  hostilities  with  a  view  to 
an  adjustment.  Among  the  conditions  of  the  proposed 
armistice,  one  was,  that  the  impressment  of  our  seamen 
should  be  discontinued.  But  before  the  British  Minister, 
(Mr.  Foster,)  reached  home,  our  Government  was  informed 
that  t/ie  orders  in  council  had  been  revoked,  the  revocation  to 
take  effect  the  1st  of  August  next.  The  only  remaining 
grievance  then  to  be  redressed  by  war,  was  that  of  im 
pressment — a  grievance,  however,  of  great  magnitude 


48  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

The  number  onseamW  impressed,  though  never  actually 
ascertained,  must  havo  been  great.  More  than  6,000  cases 
were  recorded  in  the  State  Department  ;  but  probably  a 
much  greater  number  were  impressed.  No  arrangement 
for  a  suspension  of  hostilities  being  practicable,  the  war 
was  prosecuted  by  both  parties. 

In  November,  \812,  Mr.  Madison  was  rcelected  Presi 
dent.  He  was  knjwn  to  have  been  reluctant  to  engage  in 
a  war  ;  and  his  nomination  had  been  delayed,  as  the  war 
party  were  unwilling  to  support  him,  unless  he  should  de 
termine  to  favor  me  war.  Notwithstanding  his  nomina 
tion,  DC  Witt  Clmton,  a  more  zealous  friend  of  the  war, 
was  nominated  ly  the  Republican  members  of  the  New 
York  Legislated  The  Federalists,  having  made  no  nom 
ination,  supported  Mr.  Clinton,  who  received  89  electoral 
votes,  and  Mr.  Ijtadison  128. 

Brief,  and  nocessarily  imperfect,  as  is  this  sketch  of  the 
controversy  ™ich  terminated  in  the  war  of  1812,  more 
space  has  been  given  to  it  than  was  intended.  But  as  our 
difficulties  with  Great  Britain  and  France  were  so  long  a 
subject  of  contention  between  the  two  political  parties,  it 
was  deemed  proper  to  give  the  reader  an  intelligible  view 
of  the  question. 

The  war  continued  until  February,  1815.  Commission- 
crs  had  been  appointed  by  both  Governments,  who  met  at 
Ghent,  in  Belgium,  and  concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  in 
1814,  which  was  received  at  Washington  in  Feb 
ruary  following,  ratified  by  the  British  Government.  After 
the  news  of  the  abdication  of  Napoleon  had  been  received, 
new  instructions  were  sent  to  our  Commissioners,  authoriz 
ing  them,  if  peace  could  not  otherwise  be  had,  to  waive 
the  question  of  impressment,  and  leave  it  for  future  nego 
tiation.  So  this  question  remained  unsettled.  The  treaty 
was  ratified  the  17th  of  February,  1815. 

Among  the  measures  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration 
which  deserve  notice,  is  the  incorporation  of  the  second 
Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  establishment  of  the  first, 
in  1791,  was  a  part  of  the  financial  policy  of  Mr.  Hamilton, 
and  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Madison  and  other  opponents  of 
Washington's  administration. 

In  1810,  the  year  before  the  expiration  of  the  charter, 


EARLY   PARTIES.  49 

application  was  made  for  its  renewal ;  and  a  favorable  re 
port  was  made  by  Mr.  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
but  at  too  late  a  period  of  the  session  to  be  actett  upon. 
The  application  was  renewed  the  next  year  ;  and  ta  bill 
was  introduced  into  each  House  ;  but  both  bills  were  lost ; 
that  of  the  House  having  been  indefinitely  postponed,  65  to 
64  ;  and  that  of  the  Senate  having  had  its  enacting  clause 
struck  out  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice-President, 
George  Clinton,  on  the  ground  of  its  supposed  unconstitu 
tionally.  Among  the  prominent  Republicans  who  sup 
ported  it,  were  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Giles — Mr.  Clay 
opposed  it. 

At  the  session  of  1814-1515,  Secretary  Dallas  reported  a 
plan  of  a  Bank.  It  was  supported  mainly  by  Republicans. 
It  was  opposed,  however,  by  some  Republicans,  among 
whom  was  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  proposed  a  counter  project, 
which  allowed  the  Government  no  control  in  the  direction 
of  the  Bank,  nor  a  right  to  demand  loans  from  it.  The 
Federalists  supporting  this  plan,  it  was  carried  by  a  large 
majority.  Secretary  Dallas  having,  at  the  request  of  the 
House,  given  his  opinion  as  to  the  effect  of  Mr.  Calhoun's 
project,  the  bill,  on  the  question  being  taken  on  its  third 
reading,  was  lost,  45  to  lOt  ;  the  Federalists  now  voting 
against  it.  A  bill  on  Mr.  Dallas'  plan  was  then  introduced 
in  the  Senate,  and  passed.  The  vote  in  the  House  stood, 
81  in  its  favor,  and  80  against  it,  without  the  vote  of  the 
Speaker,  who,  after  giving  his  reasons  for  opposing  the 
bill,  voted  against  it,  producing  a  tie ;  and  then  declared 
the  bill  to  be  lost.  A  reconsideration  was  carried,  and  a 
compromise  bill  was  reported  and  adopted,  but  was  vetoed 
by  the  President,  not  because  he  considered  it  unconstitu 
tional  ;  its  constitutionality  "  having  been  recognized  by 
the  Legislative,  Executive  and  Judicial  branches  of  the 
Government,  accompanied  by  the  concurrence  of  the  gen 
eral  will  of  the  nation  ;"  but  because  it  did  not  appear  to 
him  to  be  calculated  to  answer  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  desired. 

Still  another  bill,  on  the  principles  of  Mr.  Dallas'  plan, 
was  originated  in  the  Senate,  and  passed  that  body,  but 
was  indefinitely  postponed  in  the  House,  by  a  majority 
of  one  vote. 


50  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

The  next  year,  1816,  a  bank  bill  was  passed,  and  ap 
proved  by  the  President.  Mr.  Clay,  who,  with  many  other 
leading  statesmen,  had  changed  his  views  since  1811,  now 
a  member  of  the  House,  and  its  Speaker,  made  an  able 
speech  in  its  favor.  It  was  believed  that  a  Bank  was 
necessary  to  restore  a  healthy  currency,  and  to  facilitate 
the  financial  operations  of  the  Government.  It  passed  the 
House,  80  to  71.  Its  capital  was  $35,000,000  ;  one-fifth  to 
be  subscribed  by  the  Government,  and  one-fifth  to  be  paid 
in  specie.  It  was  entitled  to  the  deposit  of  the  public 
moneys,  and  was  required  to  disburse  them  in  any  part  of 
the  Union  without  charge  to  the  Government.  It  was  also 
to  pay  $1,500,000  as  a  bonus  for  its  charter.  Of  the 
twenty-five  directors,  five  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
President  and  Senate.  The  deposits  were  removable  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  sufficient  reasons,  to  be 
laid  before  Congress. 

At  the  same  session,  (1816,)  was  passed  a  new  tariff 
act.  The  European  wars,  which  had  existed  during  most 
of  the  time  since  the  organization  of  our  Government,  had 
furnished  a  good  market  for  agricultural  products,  with 
which  our  people  had  been  enabled  to  procure  supplies  of 
manufactured  goods.  Hence,  high  duties  for  the  encourage 
ment  of  manufactures  were  comparatively  unnecessary. 
The  interruption  of  our  trade  with  Great  Britain  during  our 
war  with  that  country,  and  the  double  duties  on  imported 
goods  imposed  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  which 
were  to  continue  until  its  close,  and  for  a  year  thereafter, 
had  given  an  impetus  to  home  manufactures.  But  on  the 
return  of  peace,  large  importations  of  foreign  goods  were 
again  made,  to  the  injury  of  our  manufactures  ;  and  as  the 
double  duties  were  about  to  cease,  and  as  the  foreign  mar 
ket  for  our  bread-stuffs  would  also  cease,  or  be  greatly 
diminished,  in  consequence  of  the  return  of  those  compos 
ing  the  vast  armies  of  Europe  to  their  usual  employments 
in  home  production,  it  now  became  necessary  to  adapt  our 
tariff  of  duties  to  a  state  of  peace.  Provision  must  be 
made  to  pay  the  public  debt ;  and  the  war  had  shown  the 
importance  of  being  independent  of  foreign  nations  for 
necessaries. 

Accordingly,  Mr.  Madison,  in  his  Message,  recommended 


EARLY   PARTIES.  51 

a  "  tariff  on  manufactures,"  and  urged  it  for  the  purposes, 
both  of  revenue,  and  of  making  us  "  safe  against  compe 
titions  from  abroad."  A  tariff  of  duties  on  imports  was 
reported  to  Congress  by  Secretary  Dallas,  and,  with  sorno 
modifications,  became  a  law.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  one  of  its 
most  zealous  advocates.  It  was  supported  by  Mr.  Clay 
also,  and  opposed  by  Mr.  Webster.  The  bill  passed  the 
House,  88  to  54  ;  the  Senate,  15  to  11. 

A  protective  tariff  was  not  at  this  time,  nor  was  it  for 
many  years  after,  a  party  question.  It  was  supported  and 
opposed  according  to  its  supposed  effects  upon  the  leading 
industrial  interests  of  the  States  respectively.  Nor  was  its 
constitutionality  to  any  great  extent,  if  at  all,  disputed. 
The  tariff  of  1816,  was  voted  for  by  a  majority  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  House  from  the  New  England  States,  whero 
manufactures  had  made  considerable  progress.  From  the 
agricultural  States,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey, 
&c.,  the  vote  was  nearly  unanimous  in  its  favor,  protection 
to  manufactures  being  deemed  equally  favorable  to  the 
agricultural  interest.  Its  strongest  opposition  was  from 
the  planting  States,  though  it  was  proportionably  less  than 
later  tariffs  have  received  from  those  States. 

From  the  protection  afforded  by  this  tariff,  manufactures 
of  several  kinds  were  greatly  promoted,  of  which  the  prin 
cipal  was  that  of  coarse  cotton  cloths.  In  the  main,  how 
ever,  it  proved  inadequate  ;  arid  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  was  for  a  long  time  retarded.  Foreign  goods  were 
imported  in  large  quantities  ;  and  the  country  was  drained 
of  its  money  to  pay  for  them,  our  agricultural  products, 
especially  bread-stuffs,  being,  to  any  considerable  extent, 
no  longer  wanted  in  exchange  ;  the  industry  of  the  country 
was  prostrated  ;  and  general  distress  prevailed.  Several 
attempts  were  made  in  Congress  to  revise  the  tariff,  but 
•without  success,'  until  1824.  A  bill  passed  the  House  in 
1820,  91  to  78  ;  but  it  was  defeated  in  the  Senate,  22  to  21. 
Of  the  votes  in  the  House  from  the  New  England  States, 
18  were  for,  and  17  against  the  bill.  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  were  unanimous  in 
favor  of  it,  except  1  in  Penn.  The  Southern  States  proper, 
or  planting  States,  were  nearly  unanimous  against  it.  The 
Western  States,  with  Louisiana,  were  unanimous  in  its  fa 
vor.  Kentucky,  in  favor  of  it,  5  ;  against  it,  3. 


52  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

In  1824,  after  a  most  arduous  effort,  a  bill  for  a  general 
revision  of  the  tariff  was  passed.  On  this  bill,  Mr.  Clay 
was  opposed  by  Mr.  Webster,  both  being  then  members  of 
the  House.  The  bill  was  passed  to  a  third  reading,  105  to 
102.  The  votes  of  the  several  States  were  as  follows  : 

Maine:  Yea,  1  ;  nays,  6.  New  Ilanipsh ire :  Yea,  1;  nays,  5.  Mas 
sachusetts:  Yea,  1 ;  nays,  11.  Rhode  Island :  Yeas.  2.  Connecticut: 
Yeas,  6  ;  nay,  1.  Vermont :  Yeas,  6.  New  York:  Yeas,  26;  nays,  8. 
New  Jersey  :  Yeas,  6.  Pennsylvania :  Yeas,  24 ;  nay,  1.  Delaware  : 
Yea,  1.  Maryland  :  Yeas,  3;  nays,  6.  Virginia:  Yea,  1;  nays,  21. 
North  Carolina:  Yeas,  13.  South  Carolina  :  Nays,  9.  Georgia:  Nays, 
7.  Kentucky:  Yeas,  11.  Tennessee:  Yeas,  2 ;  nays,  7.  Ohio :  Yeas, 
14.  Indiana:  Yeas,  2.  Illinois:  Yea,  1.  Louisiana:  Nays,  3.  Mis 
sissippi:  Nay,  1.  Alabama:  Nays,  3.  Missouri:  Yea,  1. 

From  this  record  of  votes,  it  appears,  that  Maine,  New 
Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts,  which  were  fishing  and 
navigating  States,  were  almost  unanimous  against  the 
tariff.  Khode  Island  and  Connecticut,  manufacturing 
States,  were  in  favor  of  it,  one  from  the  latter  excepted. 
Also  the  grain  producing  States,  Vermont,  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  and  Missouri,  were  nearly  three  to  one  in  favor  of 
protection,  from  its  supposed  benefit  to  agriculture.  The 
planting  States  generally,  having  an  unfailing  market 
abroad  for  their  great  staples,  were  united  with  the  ship- 
ing  and  fishing  States  against  the  tariff.  By  this  act, 

astern  capital  was  directed  more  to  manufactures  ;  and 
since  that  time,  the  Eastern  and  Southern  States  have  taken 
opposite  sides  on  this  question. 

In  the  Senate,  the  vote  was  25  to  21,  as  follows  : 

Maine:  Yeas,  2.  New  Hampshire :  Yea,  1 ;  nay,  1.  Massachusetts: 
Nays,  2.  Ehode  Island :  Yeas,  2.  Connecticut:  Yeas,  2.  Vermont: 
Yeas,  2.  New  York :  Yea,  1 ;  nay,  1.  New  Jersey  :  Yeas,  2.  Penn 
sylvania:  Yeas,  2.  Delaware:  Nays,  2.  Maryland:  Nay,  1.  Vir 
ginia:  Nays,  2.  North  Carolina:  Nays,  2.  South  Carolina:  Nays,  2. 
Georgia  :  Nays,  2.  Kentucky  :  Yeas,  2.  Tennessee  :  Yeas,  2.  Ohio  : 
Yeas,  2.  Indiana:  Yeas,  2.  Illinois:  Yea,  1.  Louisiana:  Nays,  2. 
Mississippi ;  Nays,  2.  Alabama :  Yeas,  2.  Missouri :  Yeas,  2. 

By  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  asperity  of  party  feeling 
was  greatly  mitigated.  Many  of  the  Federalists  no  longer 
kept  up  their  opposition  to  the  administration.  Mr.  Mon- 


EARLY   PARTIES.  53 

roe  was  elected  in  1816,  against  a  feeble  opposition  ;  183 
Eepublican  electors  being  chosen,  and  34  Federal.  The 
latter  gave  their  votes  for  Rufus  King.  After  this  elec 
tion,  a  large  number  of  Federalists,  conceiving  an  organ 
ized  opposition  to  the  Republican  party  no  longer  necessary 
or  expedient,  publicly  disclaimed  any  further  connection 
with  the  Federal  party,  which,  before  the  next  Presi 
dential  election,  ceased  to  have  an  organized  existence. 
Mr.  Monroe  was  reflected  in  1820,  without  opposition,  no 
Federal  candidate  having  been  nominated.  And  as  party 
generally  implies  the  opposition  of  a  part  of  the  community 
to  another  part,  it  is  questionable  whether  even  the  Repub 
lican,  perhaps  neither  party  can  properly  be  said  to  have 
had  existence  at  that  time.. 

It  had  been  the  practice,  from  the  time  of  the  nomination 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  the  Republican  members  of  Congress 
to  meet  in  caucus  while  in  attendance  at  the  last  session 
before  each  Presidential  election,  to  nominate  candidates. 
This  mode-  of  nomination  had  become  so  unpopular,  that 
out  of  the  216  Republican  members,  only  68  attended  the 
meeting  ;  of  whom  64  voted  tor  William  H.  Crawford  ;  2 
for  John  Quincy  Adams  ;  1  for  Andrew  Jackson ;  and  1 
for  Nathaniel  Macon.  Albert  Gallatin  received  57  votes  as 
candidate  for  Vice-President.  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr,  Gal 
latin  were  declared  nominated. 

The  great  body  of  the  Republican  electors  did  not  con 
sider  themselves  bound  by  this  nomination.  The  Republi 
cans  in  the  Legislatures  of  the  New  England  States, 
recommended  Mr.  Adams  ;  and  the  friends  of  Gen.  Jack 
son  and  Mr.  Clay  respectively,  in  the  Western  States, 
nominated  them  also.  Thus  four  candidates,  all  acknowl 
edged  Republicans,  were  before  the  people  for  their  suff 
rages.  Of  the  Presidential  electors  chosen  in  November, 
99  gave  their  votes  for  Gen.  Jackson  ;  84  for  Mr.  Adams  ; 
41  for  Mr.  Crawford  ;  and  37  for  Mr.  Clay.  There  being 
no  choice  by  the  electors,  the  election  devolved  upon  the 
House  of  Representatives,  where  the  votes  are  given  by 
States.  Mr.  Adams  received  the  votes  of  13  States ; 
Gen.  Jackson  of  7  ;  and  Mr.  Crawford  of  4  States.  Mr. 
Adams  having  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  States,  was 
elected. 


54  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

From  the  foregoing  sketch  of  old  parties,  it  would  seem 
difficult  to  trace  the  existence  of  either  to  a  later  period. 
Attempts  have  been  made,  however,  to  identify  modern 
parties  with  the  old  ones.  Democrats  have  founded  their 
claim  to  popular  favor  in  their  pretension  to  be  in  the 
regular  line  of  descent  from  Jefferson  ;  and  have  been 
\vont,  for  party  effect,  to  stigmatize  their  opponents  as 
Federalists.  And  among  the  opponents  of  the  Democratic 
party  are  some  who  have  undertaken  to  establish  their 
connection  with  the  old  Republican  party,  through  the 
National  Republican  party  which  supported  John  Quincy 
Adams,  in  1828,  and  the  late  Whig  party.  In  the  charac 
ter  and  creeds  of  different  parties  the  most  dissimilar, 
there  are  some  points  of  coincidence.  This,  however,  is 
insufficient  to  determine  the  paternity  of  any  party. 

But  what  if  the  line  of  succession  were  thus  conclu 
sively  established  ?  No  man  or  party  is  infallible  or  im 
mutable.  Great  as  was  the  popularity  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  his  administration,  there  were  in  them  some  things  to 
be  condemned  as  well  as  some  to  be  approved.  For  his 
advocacy  of  the  equal  and  inalienable  rights  of  men  ;  his 
endeavors  to  guard  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  people  ; 
and  many  of  the  measures  of  his  administration,  he  is  en 
titled  to  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  and  is  worthy  of 
imitation.  On  the  other  hand,  his  secret  opposition  to 
Washington  ;  his  encouragement  of  Genet  in  fitting  out 
privateers  in  our  ports  ;  his  patronage,  by  money  and 
personal  influence,  bestowed  upon  presses  established  to 
calumniate  Washington  and  his  administration  ;  his 
charging  him  with  being  leagued  with  conspirators  against 
our  Government,  whose  design  was  to  substitute  for  it 
one  formed  after  the  British  model  ;  his  nullifying  senti 
ments  declared  in  the  Kentucky  Resolutions  ;  and  some  of 
bis  measures  of  public  policy,  few  candid  men,  at  the  pres 
ent  day,  will  presume  to  defend.  Why,  then,  should  men 
be  so  anxious  about  the  pedigree  of  their  parties  ?  The 
validity  of  the  claims  of  a  party  to  the  public  confidence 
and  support  should  be  determined,  not  by  the  antiquity  of 
its  organization,  nor  by  its  numerical  strength  ;  but  by  the 
soundness  of  its  principles  and  the  expediency  of  its 
measures. 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  55 


PART    SECOND. 

HISTORY   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  was  inducted  into  the  Presidential 
office  on  the  4th  of  March,  1825.  Familiar  with  public 
affairs,  having  spent  the  whole  previous  period  of  his  man 
hood  in  the  public  business  ;  a  Republican,  who  had  sup 
ported  Mr.  Jefferson  from  the  time  of  the  Embargo,  and  his 
successors,  Madison  and  Monroe  ;  immediately  succeeding 
the  latter,  with  whose  views,  except  those  on  the  Constitu 
tional  power  to  make  internal  improvements,  (of  which 
Mr.  Monroe  had  some  doubts,)  and  to  the  continuance  of 
whose  general  policy  he  had  pledged  himself  in  his  Inau 
gural  Address  ;  it  was  natural  to  presume  that  his  admin 
istration  would  -be  peaceful  and  prosperous.  But  scarcely 
had  he  been  seated  in  office — not  a  measure  of  public  policy 
having  been  enacted — before  he  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  powerful  opposition.  The  chief  cause  of  this  early 
opposition  was  his  appointment  of  Mr.  Clay  as  Secretary 
of  State. 

At  the  time  of  the  election,  Mr.  Clay  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  As  the  election  of  Presi 
dent  was  to  be  made  from  the  three  candidates  having  the 
three  highest  numbers  of  electoral  votes,.  (Mr.  Clay  not 
being  one  of  them,)  he  must  participate  in  the  election. 
Possessing  great  influence,  especially  with  the  Western 
members,  whose  votes  he  could  probably  control,  deep 
anxiety  was  felt  as  to  which  of  the  candidates,  Adams  or 
Jackson,  he  would  vote  for.  It  was  rumored  that  Mr.  Clay 


56  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

and  other  Western  members  were  to  vote  for  Mr.  Adams, 
who,  in  consideration  of  their  support,  was  to  appoint  Mr. 
Clay  Secretary  of  State.  The  election  of  the  former  and 
the  appointment  of  the  latter  were  considered  as  evidence 
of  the  alleged  "  bargain."  The  dissatisfaction  among  the 
friends  of  the  defeated  candidates,  especially  those  of  Gen. 
Jackson,  was  very  great  ;  and  the  charge  of  "  corrupt 
coalition"  was  rung  throughout  the  Union.  And  it  must  bo 
confessed,  that  the  verification  of  the  rumored  appoint 
ment  ;  Mr.  Clay's  non- compliance  with  the  request  of  the 
Legislature  of  Kentucky  to  vote  for  Gen.  Jackson  ;  and 
certain  other  circumstances,  gave  ground  for  the  belief  that 
the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  and  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Clay,  were  the  result  of  a  previous  agreement.  But  the 
united  testimony  of  all  the  Western  members  implicated  ; 
letters  from  Gen.  La  Fayette,  (then  on  a  visit  to  this  coun 
try,)  Mr.  Benton,  and  others,  to  all  of  whom  Mr.  Clay  had 
stated  his  intention,  should  an  election  by  the  llouse  of 
Representatives  become  necessary,  to  vote  for  Mr.  Adams ; 
the  confessions  of  others  who  had  given  countenance  to 
the  charge  ;  and  two  solemn  denials  by  Mr.  Adams  him 
self,  publicly  made  since  the  close  of  his  Presidental  term, 
in  one  of  \vhich  he  said  :  "  Before  you,  my  fellow-citizens, 
in  the  presence  of  our  country  and  of  Heaven,  I  pronounce 
that  charge  totally  unfounded  ;"  all  these  are  deemed  suffi 
cient  to  justify  the  verdict  of  acquittal  which  has  been 
rendered  by  the  public  judgment. 

But,  although  the  charge  of  corruption  has  been  dis 
proved,  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Clay  after  the  charge  had 
been  made,  is  one  of  the  numerous  indiscretions  committed 
by  Mr.  Adams  during  his  long  public  life.  It  confirmed 
the  suspicion  of  the  alledged  bargain,  and  strengthened 
tho  opposition  early  formed  to  effect  his  overthrow. 

The  determined  purpose  of  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Adams, 
and  the  nature  of  the  means  to  be  employed  for  its  accom 
plishment,  may  be  inferred  from  a  declaration  of  Richard 
M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  made  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Seaton,  one  of  the  Editors  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  as 
Mr.  Seaton  alleged,  that  "  Mr.  Adams'  administration  shall 
come  down,  though  pure  as  the  angels  at  the  right  hand 
of  the  throne  of  God."  Col.  Johnson,  in  reply,  gave  to  this 


r- 
j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  57 

statement  no  direct  and  total  denial,  but  disclaimed  having1 
used  so  strong  and  exceptionable  language  as  that  ascribed 
to  him,  in  expressing  his  opposition  to  the  new  administra 
tion.  Mr.  Seaton,  however,  reiterated,  substantially,  his 
former  statement ;  and  his  high  moral  and  social  standing 
leaves  little  doubt  of  its  correctness. 

An  opposition  party  was  soon  formed  by  the  union  of 
the  friends  of  the  defeated  candidates.  Although  Gen. 
Jackson  had  been  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Crawford,  having  been  denounced  in  the  most  bitter 
terms,  as  a  "  Federalist,"  whose  "  doctrines  were  food  and 
raiment  for  the  Federalists  and  no-party  men,"  as  a  "  Dic 
tator"  in  temper  and  spirit,  arid  fit  only  to  bo  the  chief 
ruler  in  an  arbitrary  government  ;  yet,  the  parties  having 
a  common  object,  a  union  was  readily  formed.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  who  had  just  been  elected  Vice-President,  having 
many  friends,  these  also  joined  the  opposition.  The  great 
object — to  "  overthrow  the  administration" — is  thus  alluded 
to  in  a  certain  letter  published  in  the  opposition  papers  : 
"To  the  friends  of  Jackson  and  Crawford,  those  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  are  added  ;  and  the  union  forms  such  a  force  of 
numbers,  talents,  and  influence,  that  it  seems  improbable 
that  this  can  be  effectively  met  by  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr. 
Clay  and  their  friends,  aided  by  their  united  experience, 
ability,  patronage,  and  official  advantages,  great  as  they 
are.  Men  are  so  very  sincere  in  their  dislikes,  that  the 
most  opposite  natures  will  coalesce  to  diminish  the  power 
of  an  object  of  a  higher  common  aversion,  and  will  sur 
render  the  strongest  personal  competition  to  unite  for 
mutual  safety." 

To  effect  the  "  chief  end"  of  this  combination,  every  act 
or  measure  of  the  administration  which  could,  by  misrepre 
sentation  or  distortion,  be  turned  to  the  advantage  of  the 
opposition,  was  seized  upon  for  this  purpose.  Several  im 
portant  measures  suggested  in  Mr.  Adams'  first  animal 
Message,  were  made  to  give  way  to  numerous  propositions 
for  "  retrenchment  and  reform,"  which  were  introduced  for 
political  effect. 

Mr.  Benton,  who  seems  to  have  acted  a  prominent  part 
in  these  early  assaults  upon  the  administration,  introduced 
a  proposition  to  amend  the  Constitution  ;  the  object  of 


58  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

•which  was  to  secure  the  election  of  President  in  all  cases 
by  the  people.  He  proposed  another  amendment,  making 
membors  of  Congress  ineligible  to  any  civil  office  under 
the  General  Government  during  the  Presidential  term  in 
which  they  are  to  serve.  Mr.  Clay  and  a  few  other  mem 
bers  having  received  appointments  from  Mr.  Adams,  the 
amendment  was  designed  to  take  from  the  President  the 
power  to  appoint  to  office  members  of  Congress  upon 
who^e  votes  he  might  be  dependent  for  his  election.  Mr. 
BCIKOII  also  reported  on  the  expediency  of  reducing  the 
patronage  of  the  Executive,  and  presented  six  bills  for  that 
purpose.  One  of  them  was  "  a  bill  to  regulate  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  public  advertisements."  The 
withdrawing  of  the  patronage  of  the  printing  of  the  laws 
from  a  few  of  the  newspapers  opposed  to  the  administra 
tion,  and  bestowing  it  upon  others  that  supported  it,  ex 
plain  the  object  of  this  last  report. 

One  of  the  subjects  alluded  to  in  his  first  annual  Mes 
sage,  (December,  1825,)  was  the  "Panama  Mission/'  A 
Congress  of  Commissioners  from  the  Spanish  American 
Republics  of  Colombia,  Peru,  Chili,  Buenos  Ayres,  and 
Mexico,  was  to  assemble  at  Panama,  to  deliberate  upon  ob 
jects  of  common  interest,  and,  as  some  supposed,  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  for  a  successful  resistance  to  Spain, 
and  for  giving  security  to  their  independence.  Our  Gov 
ernment  had  been  invited  to  be  also  represented  in  the 
Congress  ;  and  the  invitation  had  been  accepte-d.  On  the 
2('.r!i  of  December,  the  President  nominated  to  the  Senate 
Richard  C.  Anderson,  of  Kentucky,  and  John  Sergeant,  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  Commissioners,  and  William  B.  Rochester, 
of  New  York,  as  Secretary  of  the  Mission,  and  again  dis 
claimed,  as  in  his  annual  Message,  the  intention  either  "to 
contract  alliances,  or  to  engage  in  any  undertaking  or  pro 
ject  of  hostility  to  any  other  nation."  He  believed  the 
meeting  would  afford  a  favorable  occasion  for  establishing 
a  more  liberal  as  well  as  a  more  stable  commercial  inter 
course  than  had  been  enjoyed,  and  principles  which  should 
govern  their  conduct  as  belligerents  and  neutrals  in  time 
of  war.  It  might  also  be  advisable  to  settle  the  question, 
whether  the  security  of  Republican  institutions  did  not  re 
quire  the  parties  to  prevent  any  European  power  from  estab- 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION".  59 

lishing  a  colony  within  the  borders  of  the  parties — a  prin 
ciple  announced  by  Mr.  Adams'  predecessor,  and  generally 
denominated  the  "  Monroe  doctrine." 

To  some  readers  an  explanation  may  be  here  necessary. 
An  alliance  of  European  monarchies  had  been  formed  to 
check  the  progress  of  liberty.  And  it  was  believed  that 
their  designs  were  not  restricted  to  Europe,  but  that  they 
meditated  interference  between  Spain  and  her  revolted 
provinces  in  America.  The  establishing  of  a  colony  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  by  any  European  power  being  regarded 
as  dangerous  to  our  own  peace  and  happiness,  Mr.  Monroe 
promulgated  the  declaration,  that  "  any  attempt  of  the 
Allied  Powers  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this 
hemisphere,  would  be  considered  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  safety,"  and  would  be  opposed.  This  principle 
is  at  present  recognized  by  most  of  our  eminent  statesmen. 
It  is, -however,  the  opinion  of  some,  that  the  declaration  of 
Mr.  Monroe  was  riot  intended  to  establish  a  principle  for  all 
future  time.  One  object  of  Mr.  Monroe  was,  to  prevent  the 
occupation  of  Cuba  by  any  other  European  Power  ;  an 
event  then  not  altogether  improbable — which  might  en 
danger  the  safety  of  the  United  States. 

The  Committees  of  the  Senate  having  been  appointed 
by  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  Vice-President,  as  President  of  that 
body,  arid  a  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Eela- 
tions,  to  whom  the  subject  was  referred,  being  opposed  to 
the  mission,  reported  against  it.  The  resolution,  declaring 
it  inexpedient  to  send  Ministers  to  the  Congress,  was,  how 
ever,  negatived,  24  to  19  ;  and  the  nominations  were 
confirmed. 

In  the  House,  whose  concurrence  was  necessary  in  an 
act  appropriating  the  money  for  carrying  the  mission,  into 
effect,  a  favorable  report  was  made,  and,  after  much  dis 
cussion,  the  money  was  appropriated. 

The  debate  in  the  Senate  was  much  protracted  by  the 
discussion  of  the  Slavery  question  which  had  been  intro 
duced.  There  might  be  colored  delegates  in  the  Congress. 
To  associate  with  them  would  be  a  tacit  admission  of  their 
political  equality.  This  might  have  an  unfavorable  effect 
upon  the  "  peculiar  institution."  Cuba  might  be  invaded 
by  the  South  American  States,  the  slaves  emancipated,  and  a 


60  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

colored  Republic  established.  A  conquest  of  the  island  by 
England  or  Franco  was  preferable  to  the  erection  of  such  a 
Republic  so  near  our  Slave  States.  The  latter  would  be,  in 
effect,  a  direct  interference  with  Slavery  in  the  South.  The 
President  had  said  to  Europe  that  we  could  not  ailow  Cuba 
and  Porto  Rico  to  be  transferred  to  any  European  Power  ; 
the  same  must  be  said  to  the  Spanish  American  States. 
We  could  not  allow  their  principle  of  universal  emancipa 
tion  to  be  called  into  activity  where  its  contagion  in  our 
neighborhood  would  be  dangerous  to  our  quiet  and  safety. 
The  safety  of  the  Southern  portion  of  our  Union  must  not 
be  sacrificed  to  a  passion  for  diplomacy. 

So  soon  do  we  see  this  self-styled,  misnamed  Democratic 
party  identifying  itself  with  Slavery,  of  which  it  has  since 
been  its  main  defense  and  support.  Better,  in  the  view  of 
these  men,  that  Cuba  should  remain  a  Monarchical  depend 
ency,  with  the  mass  of  its  people  groaning  under  a  tyranny 
worse  than  monarchs  exercise,  than  that,  by  their  deliver 
ance,  the  Slave  Power  should  be  in  the  least  endangered. 
There  was  but  a  slight  probability  that  Slavery  would  be 
at  all  affected  by  the  contemplated  meeting.  Slight  as  it 
was,  however,  it  was  sufficient  to  alarm  these  Southern 
Democrats,  who  were  sustained  by  the  votes  of  their 
Northern  allies,  with  whom  the  "  putting  down  of  the 
administration,"  right  or  wrong,  had  become  a  paramount 
object. 

The  United  States  were  not  represented  in  the  Congress. 
Mr.  Anderson,  one  of  the  Commissioners,  then  our  Minister 
to  Colombia,  died  on  his  way  to  Panama  ;  and  the  pro 
tractcd  debates  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  prevented  the 
attendance  of  Mr.  Sergeant.  The  Congress  met  on  the  22d 
of  June,  and,  having  closed  its  session  there  on  the  15th  of 
July,  adjourned  to  meet  again  in  February,  at  Tacubaya, 
near  the  city  of  Mexico,  to  give  opportunity  for  the  States 
not  represented  at  Panama,  to  join  in  the  treat}r  of  league 
and  perpetual  friendship  which  had  been  concluded  at  Pa 
nama.  Mr.  Poinsett,  our  Minister  to  Mexico,  was  appoint 
ed  Commissioner  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Anderson  ;  and  Mr. 
Sergeant,  with  Mr.  Rochester,  departed  for  Tacubaya  in 
November.  But,  owing  to.  some  internal  commotions  in 
Rome  of  the  Republics,  the  Congress  did  riot  assemble. 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  61 

So  the  Mission  failed.  Though  well  intended,  and  per 
haps  wise  and  proper  if  the  Congress  had  been  fully  at 
tended,  it  was  by  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Adams  turned  to  the 
disadvantage  of  his  administration. 

In  the  early  part  of  Mr.  Adams'  administration,  a  contro 
versy  arose  between  the  General  Government  and  the  State 
of  Georgia,  in  which  the  latter  took  initiatory  steps  toward 
nullification.  A  treaty  was  made  in  February,  1825,  be 
tween  the  United  States  arid  Gen.  M'Intosh,  a  chief  of  the 
Creek  Indians,  and  a  few  other  chiefs  of  the  nation,  who 
ceded  to  the  United  States  their  lands  in  Georgia,  for  which 
they  were  to  take  lands  West  of  the  Mississippi,  to  which 
they  were  to  remove  in  September,  1826.  The  treaty  hav 
ing  been  made  without  the  consent  of  the  representatives 
of  the  nation,  it  gave  great  dissatisfaction.  Having  made 
considerable  progress  in  civilization  and  agriculture,  they 
were  averse  to  any  further  sales,  and  had  enacted  the 
punishment  of  death  against  any  chief  who  should  sanction 
such  a  measure.  Accordingly  M'Intosh  and  one  or  two 
others  were  executed  for  their  unauthorized  and  fraudulent 
transaction. 

The  Indians  were  unwilling  to  leave  their  lands  ;  and 
the  attempt  of  the  agents  of  the  State  to  survey  the  terri 
tory  was  resisted  by  the  Creeks.  The  President  ordered 
the  survey  to  be  abandoned  until  the  time  prescribed  for 
their  removal  ;  and  Gen.  Gaines  was  sent  to  quell  disturb 
ances,  if  any  should  arise,  and  by  force,  if  necessary.  This 
exasperated  Gov.  Troup,  who  said  it  was  his  duty  to  ex 
ecute  the  law  of  the  State  which  authorized  the  survey  and 
appropriation  of  the  lands  ;  and  repeated  his  determination 
to  proceed  in  the  survey,  "  cost  what  it  will ;"  adding, 
"  The  Government  of  Georgia  will  not  retire  from  the 
position  it  occupies  to  gratify  the  agent  of  the  hostile  In 
dians  ;  nor  will  it  do  so,  I  trust,  because  it  knows  that,  in 
consequence  of  disobedience  to  an  unlawful  mandate,  it 
may  soon  be  recorded,  that  '  Georgia  was.' " 

Soon  after,  he  was  informed  by  the  War  Department, 
that  if  Georgia  "  should  undertake  the  project  of  surveying 
the  lands  before  the  time  specified  for  removal,  it  would  be 
wholly  upon  its  own  responsibility."  To  which  the  Gov 
ernor  replied,  that  if  the  General  Government  intended  to 


62  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

interpose  its  power  to  prevent  the  survey,  "the  President 
may  rest  content  that  the  Government  of  Georgia  cares  for 
no  responsibilities  in  the  exercise  of  its  right,  but  those 
which  belong  to  conscience  and  to  God,  who,  thanks  to 
Him,  is  equally  our  God,  as  the  God  of  the  United  States." 

But  there  was  another  objection  to  the  proceedings  of 
Georgia.  The  sovereignty  of  the  soil  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States  ;  therefore  Georgia  could  not  lawfully  bar 
gain  with  the  chiefs  for  the  right  of  survey  without  the 
assent  of  the  United  States.  Nor  could  the  Government 
itself  grant  the  right  until  the  time  for  the  removal,  as  it 
was  bound  to  protect  the  Indians  "  against  the  encroach 
ments,  hostilities,  and  impositions  of  the  whites  and  all 
others."  And  Gen.  Gaines  was  informed  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  (Mr.  Barbour,)  that  if  the  Governor  should  persist 
in  his  purpose,  "  it  will  present  one  of  the  most  unfortunate 
events  which  have  yet  occurred  in  our  history."  The  inso 
lence  of  the  Governor  is  seen  in  a  letter  to  the  President, 
in  which  he  said  :  "You  stand  on  the  insulated  eminence, 
an  almost  solitary  advocate  for  making  and  breaking 
treaties."  On  being  informed,  however,  of  the  President's 
intention  to  prevent  intrusions  upon  the  Indian  territory, 
and  to  refer  the  treaty  to  Congress,  the  Governor  concluded 
to  defer  the  execution  of  his  purpose. 

In  April,  1826.  a  new  treaty  was  made  and  ratified  by 
the  Government,  by  which  nearly  all  the  land  of  the  Indians 
in  Georgia  was  obtained.  Gov.  Troup,  dissatisfied  with 
the  treaty,  ordered  the  surveys  to  commence  the  1st  of 
September,  1826.  Being  apprised  of  the  President's  de 
termination  to  employ  force  in  executing  the  laws,  the 
Governor  declared  his  purpose  to  resist,  and  said  measures 
for  resistance  were  in  progress.  On  the  same  day,  he 
ordered  officers  to  liberate  surveyors  that  had  been  or 
might  be  arrested  by  the  General  Government  ;  and  the 
military  were  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to  repel  any  in 
vasion  of  the  territory  of  the  State.  He  concluded,  how 
ever,  not  to  persist  in  his  determination  to  oppose  the 
General  Government  by  force,  having  learned  that  it  was 
the  President's  intention  to  negotiate  with  the  Indians  for 
the  remaining  strip  of  land  not  ceded  ;  which  was  effected 
about  the  first  of  January,  1828. 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  63 

With  respect  to  a  reference  of  the  subject  to  the  Supreme 
Court  which  had  been  suggested,  the  Governor  said  :  "  It 
will  be  for  the  Government  of  Georgia  ultimately  to  sub 
mit,  or  not,  to  the  decision  of  that  tribunal."  He  did  not 
consider  the  Supreme  Court  the  constitutional  arbiter  in 
controversies  involving  rights  of  sovereignty  between  a 
State  and  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Monroe  had  recommended  an  attempt  to  effect  the 
removal  of  the  Indian  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi  ;  and 
for  this  purpose  Secretary  Barbour,  in  February,  1826, 
transmitted  to  Congress  a  bill.  But  no  definitive  action 
was  taken  upon  it. 

Bent  on  the  one  great  object,  the  "  overthrow  of  the  ad 
ministration/'  the  opposition  left  unemployed  no  means 
which  could  be  devised  for  this  purpose.  A  resolution  was 
offered,  calling  upon  the  Secretary  of  State  for  a  list  of  the 
newspapers  in  which  the  laws  were  directed  to  be  pub 
lished  since  he  came  into  office,  designating  the  changes 
•which  had  been  made,  and  the  reasons  for  each  change.  It 
was  alleged  that  he  had  made  changes  from  personal  and 
political  motives.  To  employ  eighty-two  presses  in  the 
service  of  the  administration  was  alarming  to  the  liberties 
of  the  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  right  to  call  upon  a  public  officer 
for  the  reasons  of  his  acts  was  denied.  Such  a  call  was  be 
lieved  to  be  without  precedent.  Out  of  the  eighty  or  more 
presses  in  which  the  laws  had  been  published,  only  sixteen 
had  been  changed — some  from  geographical  considerations  ; 
and  in  four  instances,  the  persons  displaced  and  those  ap 
pointed  were  of  the  same  political  party.  The  resolution 
was  debated  at  great  length  ;  but  no  definitive  action  was 
had  upon  it.  The  course  pursued  by  the  next  administra 
tion  in  respect  to  appointments,  will  soon  appear. 

Before  the  excitement  caused  by  the  alleged  "  coalition" 
of  Messrs.  Adams  and  Clay  had  subsided,  a  new  impulse 
was  given  to  it  by  a  direct  charge  made  by  Gen.  Jackson 
himself,  occasioned  on  this  wise  :  An  anonymous  letter  ap 
peared  in  the  Fayetteville  (N.  C.)  Observer,  stating  that 
the  writer  had  been  told  at  the  Hermitage,  by  Gen.  Jack 
son,  "  that  Mr.  Clay's  friends  made  a  proposition  to  his 
friends,  that  if  they  would  promise,  for  him,  not  to  put  Mr. 


64  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Adams  into  the  seat  of  Secretary  of  State,  Clay  and  his 
friends  would,  in  one  hour,  make  him,  Jackson,  the  Presi 
dent.  He  indignantly  rejected  the  proposition."  It  soon 
became  known,  that  Garter  Beverly,  of  Wheeling,  Va.,  was 
the  author  of  the  letter.  His  veracity  being  impeached,  he 
requested  of  Gen.  Jackson  a  confirmation  of  the  statements 
in  his  published  letter.  The  General,  in  his  answer,  said 
he  had  been  called  on,  in  January,  1825,  by  a  member  of 
Congress,  who  said,  that  he  had  been  informed  by  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  that  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  had  made 
overtures  to  them,  saying,  if  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  would 
unite  in  aid  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Clay  should 
be  Secretary  of  State.  And  he  was  of  opinion  it  was  right 
to  fight  such  intriguers  with  their  own  weapons,  &c.,  &c. 

Mr.  Clay,  in  a  letter  to  the  public,  challenged  Gen.  Jack 
son  to  the  proof.  The  General  replied  in  an  address  to  the 
public,  and  named  James  Buchanan  as  the  member  of  Con 
gress  alluded  to.  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  a  public  letter,  through 
the  Lancaster  Journal,  disclaimed  having  come  to  Gen. 
Jackson  as  an  agent  for  any  one.  He  says  :  "  I  called  on 
Gen.  Jackson  solely  as  his  friend,  upon  my  individual  re 
sponsibility.  Until  I  saw  Gen.  Jackson's  letter  to  Mr.  Bev 
erly,  and  at  the  same  time  was  informed  by  a  letter  from  the 
Editor  of  the  U.  S.  Telegraph,  that  I  was  the  person  to  whom 
he  alluded,  the  conception  never  once  entered  my  mind  that 
he  believed  me  to  have  been  the  agent  of  Mr.  Clay,  or  of 
his  friends,  or  that  I  had  intended  to  propose  to  him  terms 
of  any  kind  for  them,  or  that  he  could  have  supposed  me 
capable  of  expressing  the  opinion,  that  it  was  right  to 
'  fight  them  with  their  own  weapons.' "  Mr.  Buchanan  then 
suggests  how  Gen.  Jackson  may  have  been  led  into  the 
mistake. 

Here,  then,  is  presented  a  question  of  veracity  between 
the  General  and  Mr.  Buchanan,  as  the  former  would  not 
confess  to  a  "  mistake."  Many  readers  will  recollect  the 
publication,  in  1856,  of  what  purported  to  be  an  original 
letter  from  Gen,  Jackson  to  Mr.  Polk,  in  which  he  advised 
him  not  to  appoint  Mr.  B.  to  a  seat  in  his  Cabinet,  for  the 
reason  that  he  was  a  deceitful  man,  or  unworthy  of  confi 
dence,  and  referred  to  the  denial  above  mentioned,  say 
ing  :  "  He  did  propose  to  fight  them  with  their  own  weap- 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  65 

ons."      The  reader  will  form  his  own  opinion  as  to  which  of 
the  two  gentlemen  is  the  more  worthy  of  credence. 

In  1828,  the  tariff  was  again  modified.  The  protection 
afforded  by  the  act  of  1824,  was  generally  satisfactory.  A 
means,  however,  had  been  devised  of  evading  in  a  measure 
the  intentions  of  the  act.  Woolen  goods  were  subject  to 
an  ad  valorem  duty  of  33  J  per  cent,  on  the  price  at  the  place 
whence  imported.  False  invoices  of  these  goods  were 
made  out  at  prices  below  their  actual  value,  and  the  duties 
paid  accordingly.  By  this  means,  the  treasury  was  de 
frauded  of  a  part  of  the  revenue,  and  the  manufacturer  of  a 
part  of  the  protection  to  which  he  was  entitled.  To  remedy 
this  evil,  and  a  few  others,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  182 1, 
usually  called  the  "woolens  bill,"  and  was  passed  by  the 
House,  106  to  95,  but  defeated  in  the  Senate  by  the  casting 
vote  of  Vice-president  Calhoun,  to  the  great  dissatisfaction 
of  the  manufacturers.  Public  meetings  were  held  in  some 
States,  and  a  National  Contention,  composed  of  delegates 
from  13  States,  met  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  to  consult  on  meas 
ures  to  promote  the  interests  of  agriculture  and  manufac 
tures  :  and  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  (1827-1828,) 
numerous  petitions  were  received  praying  for  relief.  An 
act  was  passed,  increasing  the  duties  on  iron  and  some 
other  articles  ;  changing  the  duties  on  others  from  ad 
valorem  to  specific  duties,  laying  those  upon  woolens  accord 
ing  to  the  minimum  principle.* 


*  To  some  readers,  perhaps,  this  term  may  need  an  explanation. 
Minimum  signifies  the  least  quantity  or  value  assignable  in  a  given 
case.  By  the  act  of  1824,  woolen  cloths  costing  in  the  foreign  mar 
ket  over  33}£  cents  the  square  yard,  were  charged  with  a  duty  of 
33)£  per  cent.  But  as  many  were  imported  with  invoices  at  prices 
one-fourth  or  one-third  less  than  those  really  charged,  this  act  pro 
vided  that  all  woolen  cloths  costing  abroad  under  33^  cents,  must 
be  charged  with  a  specific  duty  of  14  cents  a  yard.  Costing  over 
33^  cents,  and  under  50,  they  must  be  deemed  to  have  cost  50,  and 
charged  40  per  cent,  duty  ;  that  is,  50  cents  is  the  least  value  upon 
which  the  duty  was  to  be  charged.  Costing  over  50  cents,  and  not 
exceeding  $1,  they  must  be  considered  as  having  cost  $1,  and  be 
charged  accordingly  ;  one  dollar  being  the  minimum,  or  least  price 
upon  which  the  duty  was  to  be  estimated.  The  next  minimum  was 
$2,50,  and  the  next  and  last  $4.  The  benefit  of  this  principle  is 


66  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

By  the  act  of  1824,  many  articles  previously  charged 
with  ad  valorem  duties,  were  made  subject  to  specific  du 
ties  ;  and  by  the  act  of  1828,  the  duties  on  an  additional 
number  of  articles  were  altered  from  ad  valorem  to  specific, 
as  by  specific  duties,  and  duties  by  the  minimum  rule, 
(which  are  in  effect  the  same  as  specific  duties,)  the  intend 
ed  measure  of  duties  is  secured. 

This  tariff  was,  on  the  whole,  probably,  the  highest  that 
had  ever  been  enacted.  Among  its  most  prominent  sup 
porters  were  Silas  Wright,  Barnard,  Martin  Hoffman,  Mar- 
tindale,  and  Strong,  of  N.  Y.  ;  Mallory,  of  Vt.  ;  Bates,  of 
Mass.  ;  Ingersoll,  of  Conn.  ;  Buchanan,  Forward,  and  Ing- 
ham,  of  Pa.  ;  Vinton  and  Wright,  of  Ohio.  Among  its 
opponents  were  Anderson  and  Sprague,  of  Maine  ;  Cam- 
breleng,  of  N.  Y.  ;  Alexander,  Gilmer,  and  Randolph,  of 
Va.  ;  Hamilton  and  M'Duffie,  of  S.  C.  ;  Wickliffe,  of  Ky.  ; 
Wilde,  of  Ga.  It  passed  the  House,  105  to  94,  as 
follows  : 

Maine  :  Nays,  7.  New  Hampshire :  Yeas,  4  ;  nays,  2.  Massachusetts  : 
Yeas,  2;  nays,  11.  Rhode  Island;  Yea.  1;  nay,  1.  Connecticut: 
Yeas,  4  ;  nays,  2.  Vermont :  Yeas,  5.  New  York:  Yeas.  27  ;  nays,  G. 
New  Jersey  :  Yeas,  5.  Pwnsylvania :  Yeas,  23.  Delaware  :  Yea,  1.  Mary 
land  :  Yea,  1  ;  nays,  5.  Virginia  :  Yeas,  3  ;  nays,  15.  North  Carolina: 
Nays,  13.  South  Carolina :  Nays,  9.  Georgia:  Nays,  7.  Kentucky: 
Yeas,  12.  Tennessee:  Nays,  9.  OAw :  Yeas,  13.  'Indiana  :  Yeas,  3. 
Illinois :  Yea,  1.  Louisiana :  Nays,  3.  Mississippi :  Nay,  1.  Alabama  :, 
Nays,  3.  Missouri :  Nay,  1. 

The  bill,  somewhat  amended,  passed  the  Senate,  26  to  21, 
as  follows  : 

Maine:  Nays,  2.  New  Hampshire :  Nay,  1.  Massachusetts:  Yea,  1, 
(Webster;)  nay,  1,  (Silsbee.)  Mode  Island:  Yea,  1  ;  nay,  1.  Con 
necticut:  Yeas,  2.  Vermont:  Yeas,  2.  New  York:  Yeas,  2,  (Sanford 


readily  seen.  For  instance :  If  an  importer  should  present  an  invoice 
of  cloth  at  50  cents  a  yard  which  is  worth  75  cents,  the  fraud  would 
be  readily  discovered,  and  the  article  would  be  deemed  to  have  cost 
$1,  and  charged  accordingly.  This  would  compel  the  foreign  manu 
facturer  to  make  all  goods  costing  over  50  cents,  intended  for  our 
market,  worth,  as  near  as  possible,  §1,  and  not  exceeding  that  price. 
And  so  of  the  other  minima.  $2,50  and  $4.  The  duties  on  woolens 
were,  after  the  first  year,  to  be  increased  5  per  cent. 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  67 

and  Van  Buren.)  New  Jersey:   Yeas,   2.      Pennsylvania:   Yeas,   2* 

Delaware :   Yeas,  2.  Maryland :   Nays,  2.     Virginia  :  Nays,  2.     North 

Carolina :    Nays,    2.  /So^A    Carolina :  Nays,  2.      Georgia :    Nays,   2. 

Kentucky :   Yeas,   2.  Tennessee :   Yea,    ]  ;    nay,  1.      0/«o :    Yeas,    2. 

Louisiana:    Yea,  1 ;  nay,    1.      Indiana:  Yeas,    2.       Illinois:  Yea,   2. 

Mississippi:  Nays,  2.  Alabama:  Nays,  2.     Missouri:  Yeas,  2,  (Benton 
and  Barton.) 

The  indignation  of  the  South  excited  by  the  passage  of 
this  act,  was  not  allayed  until  after  the  enactment  of  the 
Compromise  act  of  1833. 

One  year  remained  of  Mr.  Adams'  Presidential  term  ; 
and,  lest  the  load  of  unprincipled  opposition  under  which  it 
was  staggering  should  prove  insufficient  to  crush  it,  anoth 
er  attempt  was  made  to  effect  the  object. 

In  January,  1828,  Mr.  Chilton,  of  Kentucky,  moved  re 
solutions  declaring  the  expediency  of  the  speedy  discharge 
of  the  public  debt,  and,  in  order  to  effect  it,  the  necessity 
of  a  general  system  of  retrenchment,  the  discontinuance  of 
needless  offices,  the  reduction  of  salaries  ;  arid  instructing 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  to  report  such  means  of 
retrenchment  as  might  be  deemed  necessary.  The  friends 
of  the  administration,  although  aware  that  the  resolutions 
had  been  introduced  for  party  effect,  yet,  concurring  in  the 
measure  proposed,  and  believing  that  the  Government  had 
been  economically  administered,  made  no  serious  opposition 
to  their  reference. 

Among  the  list  of  alleged  abuses,  the  navy  list  was 
said  to  be  crowded  ;  cadets  had  I  eeri  educated  at  West 
Point  who  were  out  of  employment  ;  a  fifth  auditor  had 
been  appointed  for  a  time  which  had  expired,  and  his  serv 
ices  were  no  longer  necessary  ;  too  many  clerks  were  em 
ployed  ;  the  contingent  fund  had  been  improperly  used  ; 
many  salaries  might  be  reduced  ;  arid  the  reduction  should 
begin  with  the  compensation  and  mileage  of  members  of 
Congress  ;  and  there  was  an  unnecessary  expenditure  for 
printed  documents. 

Opposition  members  were  not  unanimous  upon  all  points. 
Messrs.  Buchanan,  Randolph,  and  M'Duffie,  although  they 
believed  in  the  necessity  of  reform,  did  not  think  the  pres 
ent  a  favorable  time,  nor  the  manner  proposed  a  proper 
one.  Mr.  Buchanan  said  also  that  the  duties  of  the  fifth 
auditor  had  been  doubled,  and  the  office  was  necessary. 


68  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

Several  members  of  the  opposition  also  opposed  a  reduction 
of  their  compensation.  Mr.  M'Duffie  said,  he  would  say 
nothing  that  would  have  a  bearing  upon  the  administration 
one  way  or  another.  The  question  was  not  what  the  Gov 
ernment  had  done  ;  that  was  past ;  but  this  was  a  practi 
cal  resolution  which  had  reference  to  future  reforms. 
Whether  there  were  abuses  or  not — whether  the  Panama 
Mission  was  expedient  or  not,  was  not  now  before  the 
House  ;  it  was  at  an  end  ;  why  was  it  brought  up  here,  and 
at  this  time  ?  As  bearing  upon  the  administration,  these 
things  had  no  business  here.  In  reference  to  the  public 
debt,  and  the  mode  of  its  discharge,  he  said,  all  the  means 
which  the  country  possessed  of  paying  it  were,  by  existing 
laws,  to  be  applied  to  that  object ;  and  no  resolution  would 
either  hasten  or  retard  its  payment. 

The  President  was  censured  by  some  for  his  having  re 
garded  with  office  members  of  Congress  who  had  aided  in  his 
election,  and  accused  of  having  claimed  for  the  General 
Government  powers  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution,  and 
incompatible  with  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  liberties 
of  the  people.  Having,  by  a  lawless  construction,  extended 
the  powers  of  the  Government,  he  had  threatened  a 
sovereign  State  (Georgia)  with  the  military  force  of  the 
nation. 

Members  on  the  other  side  were  willing  to  institute  the 
inquiry.  The  President  had  himself,  in  1826,  and  again  in 
1827,  recommended  "  the  most  vigilant  economy  and  all 
honorable  expedients,  for  the  total  discharge  of  the  public 
debt."  No  new  offices  had  been  created  by  this  adminis 
tration  ;  nor  had  any  salaries  been  raised  except  that  of  the 
Postmaster-General,  whose  business  had  been  largely  in 
creased.  The  $10,000,000  annually  reserved  as  a  sinking 
fund  must  inevitably  pay  the  debt ;  and  the  present  admin 
istration  had  paid,  not  only  the  ten  millions  annually,  but  a 
part  of  the  deficiencies  of  the  preceding  administration. 
The  Academy  at  West  Point  was  also  defended  against  the 
attack  of  opposition  members,  Mr.  Buchanan  assisting  in 
the  defense.  The  Panama  Mission  had  received  the  sanc 
tion  of  both  Houses,  and  been  approved  by  the  nation. 
What  would  not  have  been  said  against  the  administration 
if  the  invitation  to  attend  the  meeting  had  not  been  ac- 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  69 

ccpted  ?  The  administration  was  not  responsible  for  the 
failure  of  the  meeting.  The  charge  that  the  West  India 
trade  had  been  lost  by  the  administration,  was  also  replied 
to.  [This  will  receive  proper  notice  in  our  sketch  of  Gen. 
Jackson's  administration.]  Numerous  other  charges  were 
preferred  and  replied  to  ;  but  for  want  of  room,  they  must 
be  passed  over  without  notice. 

The  resolutions  were  referred  to  a  Select  Committee  ;  but 
probably  because  the  object  of  their  mover  and  supporters 
had  been  attained,  no  bill  to  carry  them  into  effect  was 
ever  reported. 

At  this  session,  (1821-1828,)  a  petition  from  citizens  of 
the  District  of  Columbia  was  presented  to  Congress  for  the 
prospective  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District,  and  for  the 
repeal  of  those  laws  which  authorized  the  selling  of  sup 
posed  runaways  for  their  prison  fees  or  maintenance.  The 
petitioners  declared  slavery  among  them  to  be  "  an  evil  of 
serious  magnitude,  which  greatly  impaired  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  the  District,  and  to  cast  the  reproach  of 
inconsistency  upon  the  free  institutions  established  among 
us."  They  represented  the  domestic  slave  trade  there  as 
"  scarcely  less  disgraceful,  and  even  more  demoralizing  in 
its  influence,"  than  the  foreign  slave  trade  which  is  de 
clared  piracy,  and  punishable  with  death.  "  Husbands  and 
wives  are  separated  ;  children  are  taken  from  their  parents 
without  regard  to  the  ties  of  nature,  and  the  most  endear 
ing  bonds  of  affection  are  broken  forever."  A  stronger  an 
ti-slavery  document  has  not,  in  later  times,  been  presented 
to  Congress.  It  did  not,  however,  meet  with  a  favorable 
reception. 

At  the  next  session,  (1828-1829,)  the  last  under  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Adams,  protests  against  the  tariff  act 
of  the  preceding  session  from  the  Legislatures  of  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina,  were  presented  to  the  Senate.  The  act 
was  entitled,  "  An  act  in  alteration  of  the  several  acts  im 
posing  duties  on  imports."  The  Georgia  protest  pro 
nounced  it  "  deceptive  in  its  title,  fraudulent  in  its  pretexts, 
oppressive  in  its  exactions,  partial  and  unjust  in  its  opera' 
tions,  unconstitutional  in  its  well  known  objects,  ruinous  to 
commerce  and  agriculture — to  secure  a  hateful  monopoly 
to  a  combination  of  importunate  manufacturers."  The  pro- 


70  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

testers,  in  temper  and  language  similar  to  that  in  which 
the  General  Government  was  addressed  in  the  Indian  case, 
"  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  act,"  and  asked  that  this  ex 
pression  of  the  opinion  of  the  State  of  Georgia  might  "  bo 
carefully  preserved  among  the  archives  of  the  Senate." 
The  protest  savored  strongly  of  nullification.  It  was  pre 
sented  by  Mr.  Berrien.  In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he 
adverted  to  the  efficiency  with  which  the  Government  had 
sustained  itself  during  so  many  trials,  and  expressed  the 
opinion,  that  it  was  yet  to  undergo  a  more  fearful  trial  in 
questions  affecting  our  internal  peace;  an  event  which,  he 
hoped,  might  be  far  off.  Little,  however,  could  he  have 
expected  such  a  trial  as  that  through  which  it  is  now  pass 
ing  !  Little,  too,  did  he  think  that,  before  his  death,  he 
would  himself  become  the  advocate,  as  he  really  did,  of  a 
protective  tariff. 

The  protest  of  South  Carolina  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Smith,  a  Senator  from  that  State.  It  assigned  at  length 
the  reasons  for  protesting  against  the  system  of  protecting 
duties,  pronouncing  it  "  unconstitutional,  oppressive,  and 
unjust ;"  and,  lest  opparent  acquiescence  in  the  system 
should  be  drawn  into  precedent,  the  Legislature,  in  the 
name  of  the  commonwealth,  claim  to  enter  their  protest  on 
the  journals  of  the  Senate. 

The  Presidential  election  had  taken  place,  with  the  ex 
pected  result,  the  election  of  Gen.  Jackson,  who  had 
received  178  electoral  votes,  and  Mr.  Adams  83.  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  ree'lected  Vice-President  against  Richard 
Rush. 

The  more  the  causes  of  Mr.  Adams'  defeat  are  considered, 
the  less  strange  does  it  appear.  Gen.  Jackson  having,  in 
1824,  received  a  greater  number  of  the  electoral  votes  than 
Mr.  Adams,  the  election  of  the  latter  by  the  House  was  by 
many  considered  a  violation  of  the  Democratic  principle  ; 
and  he  was  called  the  "  minority  President."  True,  this 
argument  was  not  entitled  to  any  weight,  but  it  turned 
many  into  the  support  of  his  competitor.  Let  us  consider 
this  argument.  In  the  first  place,  a  plurality  of  electoral 
votes  does  not  prove  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote.  There 
were,  in  1824,  four  candidates  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  would  have  been  the  popular  vote  if  Mr.  Crawford  and 


j.  Q.  ADAMS'  ADMINISTRATION.  71 

Mr.  Clay  had  not  been  candidates.  It  was  well  known 
that  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  in  some  of  the  Northern 
States,  especially  in  New  York,  decidedly  preferred  Mr. 
Adams  to  Gen.  Jackson.  But  the  electors  were  chosen  in 
that  State  by  the  Legislature.  The  Albany  Argus,  the 
potent  organ  of  the  Crawford  party,  most  bitterly  denounc 
ed  Gen.  Jackson,  pronouncing  him  the  least  fit  of  all  the 
candidates  for  President,  and  branding  him  with  the  op- 
probious  epithet  of  "  Federal."  Sometimes,  too,  a  large 
State  chooses  Presidental  electors  by  a  bare  majority  of  its 
voters,  while  a  small  State  elects  its  few  electors  by  a  ma- 
rority  of  many  thousands.  Not  having  the  statistics  at 
hand,  I  cannot  say  how  far  this  was  the  case  in  1824.  But 
I  have  before  me  a  history  of  parties  in  which  I  find  the 
follwing  statements,  founded,  it  is  presumed,  on  correct 
date  : 

Mr.  Adams  had  the  greatest  number  of  popular  votes  at 
the  polls.  Gen  Jackson  did  not  receive  a  plurality  in 
North  Carolina  ;  and  it  was  by  a  coalition  with  the  friends 
of  Crawford  that  he  received  the  electoral  vote  of  that 
State.  Mr.  Crawford,  on  the  plurality  principle,  was  enti 
tled  to  the  credit  of  the  15  electoral  votes,  which,  in  the 
electoral  college  were  cast  for  Gen.  Jackson.  This  reduc 
tion  would  have  left  him  84,  the  number  cast  for  Mr. 
Adams.  New  York,  on  the  same  principle,  would  have 
given  Mr.  Adams  36  electoral  votes  instead  of  the  26  he 
received  in  the  Legislature,  by  which  the  electors  were 
then  chosen.  These  10  additional  votes  would  have  made 
his  aggregate  94  against  the  General's  81.  In  the  New 
England  States,  his  popular  majorities  greatly  exceeded 
those  in  the  eight  States  whose  electors  voted  for  the  Gen 
eral.  In  the  electoral  colleges  of  the  Slave  States,  more 
over,  which  voted  for  Gen.  Jackson,  the  votes  cast  for 
slaves,  not  by  them,  and  which  may  be  termed  popular, 
though  constitutional,  were  of  course,  included.  These 
subtracted  from  the  canvass,  the  relative  strength  of  Mr. 
Adams  is  further  augmented  ;  so  that  he  was  the  choice, 
as  well  of  a  large  plurality  of  the  voters,  as  of  a  majority 
of  the  States. 

But  it  should  be  deemed  sufficient  that  he  was  elected  in 
a  manner  prescribed  in  the  Constitution.  The  framers  did 


72  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

not  think  proper  to  require  an  election  to  be  made  by  a 
majority  of  an  aggregate  popular  vote  cast  directly  for  can 
didates  ;  but  preferred  an  election  through  the  intervention 
of  electors  ;  and  provided  for  an  election  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  States,  in  case  no  election  should  be 
made  by  the  electoral  colleges.  The  people  have  approved 
this  mode  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  The  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Adams  was,  therefore,  in  accordance  with  the  will 
of  the  people,  and  no  violation  of  the  Democratic  principle. 

The  charge  of  corruption,  too,  in  the  election  of  Mr. 
Adams,  had  a  powerful  influence  against  his  reelection.  It 
had,  indeed,  been  disproved  to  the  satisfaction  of  candid 
and  intelligent  men  ;  but  the  evidence  had  been  carefully 
concealed  from  the  readers  of  Democratic  papers.  In  not  a 
single  paper  of  that  party,  have  I  ever  seen  one  of  the  nu 
merous  facts  exculpating  the  gentlemen  charged.  And  it 
may  be  stated  as  a  trait  in  the  character  of  the  Democratic 
presses  generally,  that  they  never  correct  injurious  or 
slanderous  statements.  There  are  doubtless  exceptions  ; 
but  it  is  believed  they  are  few.  Respecting  the  case  in 
question,  it  may  probably  be  said  in  truth,  that  not  one 
Democrat  in  ten  of  those  to  whom  the  charge  had  become 
familiar  by  repetition,  has  to  this  day  read  or  heard  any 
part  of  the  evidence  by  which  it  was  so  triumphantly 
refuted. 

Several  other  causes,  not  mentioned,  contributed  to  the 
success  of  Gen.  Jackson  ;  not  the  least  powerful  of  which 
was  the  prestege  of  military  fame.  The  simple  fact  of  his 
having  the  well-earned  title  of  the  "  Hero  of  New  Orleans," 
was  sufficient  to  counterbalance,  in  the  estimation  of  many 
minds,  the  most  important  qualifications  of  his  competitor. 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  73 


CHAPTER    II. 

Administration  of  Andrew  Jackson. — First  Term. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United 
States  oc  the  4th  of  March,  1829.  His  promises  in  his  In. 
augural  Address  were  numerous  and  proper.  He  should 
regard  the  limitations  of  the  Executive  power  ;  respect  the 
rights  of  the  States  ;  observe  strict  economy  to  facilitate 
the  payment  of  the  public  debt ;  show  equal  favor  to  agri 
culture,  commerce  and  manufactures  ;  commend  idternal 
improvement,  so  far  as  it  could  be  promoted  constitution 
ally  ;  and,  omong  other  things,  would  observe  toward  the 
.Indian  tribes  within  our  limits,  a  just  and  liberal  policy. 
And  he  mentioned  as  one  of  his  prominent  duties,  "  the.  task 
of  reform ;  which  will  require,  particularly,  the  correction 
of  those  abuses  that  have  brought  the  General  Government 
into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections,  and  the  counter 
action  of  those  causes  which  have  disturbed  the  rightful 
course  of  appointment,  and  have  placed  or  continued  power 
in  unfaithful  or  incompetent  hands." 

The  reader  who  does  not  understand  the  nature  of  the 
"reform"  here  alluded  to,  or  "  abuses"  committed  by  his 
predecessor  which  needed  "  correction,"  will  soon  find  an 
explanation  in  the  manner  and  extent  of  the  exercise  of  the 
appointing  power  by  the  new  President. 

The  persons  selected  for  Cabinet  officers,  were,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  of  N.  Y.,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Samuel  D.  Ing- 
ham,  of  Pa.,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  John  H.  Eaton,  of 
Tenn.,  Secretary  of  War  ;  John  Branch,  of  N.  C.,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  ;  John  M.  Berrien,  of  Ga.,  Attorney-General  ; 
and  Wm.  T.  Barry,  of  Ky.,  Postmaster-General.  Until  this 
time,  the  Postmaster-General  was  not  a  Cabinet  officer. 
John  M'Lean,  of  Ohio,  the  incumbent  of  that  office,  was  ap 
pointed  an  associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

To  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  consistency,  if  not  the  pro- 


74  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

priety,  of  the  President's  conduct,  it  is  necessary  to  know 
what  were  his  "  antecedents."  Although  he  had  never  at 
tained  great  distinction  as  a  civilian,  his  sentiments  on 
many  political  subjects  had  been  publicly  expressed.  On 
the  questions  of  the  tariff  and  internal  improvements,  ho 
was  among  those  who  were  strongly  committed  in  their 
favor.  In  1823,  he  was  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
advocating  the  highest  protective  duties,  while  Mr.  Clay 
was  in  the  House  engaged  so  assiduously  in  pressing 
through  that  body  the  protective  tariff  of  that  year.  It  was 
then  that  Gen.  Jackson  wrote  his  notable  letter  to  Dr.  Cole- 
man,  in  favor  of  what  was  called  the  "  American  system  ;" 
and  to  which  he  had  committed  himself  anew  just  before 
his  election.  The  people  of  Indiana  and  other  Western 
States,  were  in  favor  of  the  protective  system  and  internal 
improvements  ;  but  as  Gen.  Jackson  had  been  adopted  as 
a  candidate  by  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  who  were 
so  strongly  opposed  to  these  measures,  the  Senate  of  Indi 
ana,  in  January,  1828,  requested  the  Governor  to  address 
to  Gen.  Jackson  a  letter,  "  inviting  him  to  state  explicitly 
whether  he  favors  that  construction  of  the  Constitution 
which  authorizes  Congress  to  appropriate  money  for  mak 
ing  internal  improvements  in  the  several  States  ;  and 
whether  he  is  in  favor  of  a  system  of  protective  duties  ; 
and  whether,  if  he  is  elected  President,  he  will,  in  his  pub 
lic  capacity,  recommend,  foster,  and  support  the  American 
system." 

In  his  answer,  the  General  reasserts  his  principles  as  de 
clared  in  the  Coleman  letter  to  which  he  referred  Gov.  Ray, 
sending  him  a  copy,  and  to  which  the  reader  also  is  re 
ferred.  The  letter  is  an  epitome  of  the  great  arguments  by 
which  the  system  is  maintained,  and  is  worth}'  of  perusal 
by  every  American  citizen.  The  want  of  space  alone  for 
bids  its  insertion  here.  [For  the  letter,  see  American 
Statesman,  pp.  402,  403.]  On  this  question,  his  views 
were  the  same  as  those  of  Mr.  Adams. 

But  there  were  other  principles  than  those  of*  political 
economy  to  which  Gen.  Jackson  was  committed,  or  which 
he  had  avowed.  In  his  correspondence  with  Mr.  Monroe, 
after  the  election  of  the  latter  had  been  ascertained,  he  re 
commended  the  appointment  of  men  to  o&ce  without  refer- 


75 

encc  to  their  party  attachments.  In  other  words,  he  was 
opposed  to  proscription  for  opinion's  sake. 

Mr.  Adams  having  appointed  to  office  several  members 
of  Congress  who  had  voted  for  him  as  President,  Gen. 
Jackson,  in  an  address  to  the  Tennessee  Legislature,  in 
October,  1825,  said,  in  reference  to  such  appointments,  that 
he  was  in  favor  of  a  provision  in  the  Constitution  rendering 
any  member  of  Congress  ineligible  to  office  under  the  Gen 
eral  Government  during  the  term  for  which  he  was  elected, 
and  for  two  years  thereafter.  One  of  the  reasons  for  such 
prohibition  was,  that  "  members,  instead  of  being  liable  to 
be  withdrawn  from  legislating  upon  the  great  interests  of 
the  nation,  through  prospects  of  Executive  patronage, 
would  be  more  liberally  confided  in  by  their  constituents  ; 
while  their  vigilance  would  be  less  interrupted  by  party 
feelings  and  party  excitements."  And  he  adds,  "  if  import 
ant  offices  continue  to  devolve  on  the  Representatives  in  Congress, 
.  .  .  corruption  will  become  the  order  of  the  day" 

Before  his  election,  Gen.  Jackson  had  also  declared  him 
self  opposed  to  the  eligibility  of  a  President  to  the  office 
for  the  next  term.  The  object  of  this  restriction  was  to 
remove  all  inducement  to  use  the  power  of  patronage  in  his 
hands  to  secure  a  reelection. 

How  nearly  the  practice  of  the  President  corresponded  to 
his  previously  avowed  principles,  is  well  known  by  those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  politics  of  those  times.  His  "  no- 
party"  principle  was  immediately  illustrated  in  his  ap 
pointments  ;  in  which  he  adopted  a  new  rule  of  action,  not 
practiced  by  any  of  his  predecessors.  They  had,  as  was 
proper,  selected  for  members  of  the  Cabinet,  as  their  poli 
tical  advisers,  and  as  assistants,  men  who  would  cooperate 
with  them  in  executing  the  laws  and  in  carrying  out  the 
general  policy  of  the  administration.  Gen.  Jackson  did 
the  same.  But  immediately  after  the  appointment  of  his 
Cabinet,  he  commenced  the  removal  of  incumbents,  a  con 
siderable  number  of  whose  places  were  filled  before  the 
Senate  adjourned,  (the  17th  of  March.)  During  the  recess 
of  the  Senate,  district  marshals  and  attorneys  ;  surveyors, 
inspectors,  and  collectors  of  ports  ;  naval  officers  ;  apprais 
ers  of  goods  ;  receivers  of  public  rnonej'S  ;  auditors,  con 
trollers,  and  clerks  in  the  Executive  Departments,  were 


76  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

displaced,  and  political  adherents  appointed  in  their  places. 
And  of  Postmasters,  nearly  five  hundred  were  removed 
during  the  first  year  of  the  administration. 

This  general  removal  of  political  opponents,  though 
severely  reprehended  and  condemned  by  the  opposition 
party,  and  referred  to  as  inconsistent  with  his  professed 
sentiments  before  his  election,  was  to  some  no  matter  of 
surprise.  It  had  been  announced  before  his  election,  that 
he  would,  if  elected,  "  reward  his  friends  and  punish  his 
enemies/'  Clerks  who  had  held  places  during  successive 
administrations  and  changes  of  parties  since 'the  time  of 
Washington,  and  at  a  period  of  life  too  late  to  engage  in 
new  pursuits,  were  dismissed  to  make  place  for  others  who, 
according  to  the  rule,  were  entitled  to  "  rewards"  for  party 
services.  The  seat  of  Government  swarmed  with  hungry 
partisans  claiming  a  share  of  the  crumbs  of  Executive  pat 
ronage.  Thus  early  had  the  public  a  practical  exposition 
of  the  promised  "  reform" — the  "  correction  of  those  abuses 
that  had  brought  the  General  Government  into  conflict  with 
the  freedom  of  elections."  Here  was  the  beginning  of  the 
"  reward  and  punishment"  system,  which  has  probably  dono 
more  to  corrupt  the  Government,  than  all  other  influences 
combined.  Had  Mr.  Adams  adopted  this  means  to 
strengthen  his  party,  it  is  not  improbable,  he  might  have 
secured  a  reelection.  He  had  made  only  two  removals,  both 
for  cause,  during  his  whole  Presidential  term.  Jefferson, 
after  the  Government  had  been,  during  its  entire  previous 
existence,  in  the  hands  of  his  opponents,  removed  only 
thirty-nine,  in  eight  years  ;  and  no  other  President  removed 
more  than  ten,  of  whom  some  were  for  cause. 

Some,  to  relieve  the  President  from  the  charge  of  corrup 
tion,  have  ascribed  this  contradiction  of  a  professed  princi 
ple  to  a  certain  extraneous  influence.  The  removal  system 
had  long  prevailed  in  the  State  from  which  he  had  selected 
his  Secretary  of  State,  who  had  for  many  years  directed 
the  politics  of  his  State.  That  an  "oily"  tactician  of  a 
long  and  successful  experience,  should  obtain  a  controlling 
influence  over  a  confiding,  unsuspecting  chief,  is  not 
strange  ;  or  that,  as  was  believed,  lie  had  become  "  a  pow 
er  behind  the  throne  greater  than  the  throne  itself." 

From   the   horror  expressed  by  Gen.  Jackson   and  his 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  7t 

friends  at  the  appointment,  by  Mr.  Adams,  of  a  few  mem 
bers  of  Congress  to  office,  which  had  led  Congress  to  call 
for  a  list  of  such  appointments  "  since  the  foundation  of  the 
Government/7  for  the  alleged  object  of  enabling  Congress 
to  remove  an  evil  said  to  exist  and  to  be  growing,  one 
would  suppose  this  practice  would  have  been  scrupulously 
avoided.  But  the  list  transmitted  showed,  that  Mr.  Adams 
had,  in  thirteen  months,  to  the  time  of  the  report,  appointed 
five  members  of  Congress.  Gen.  Jackson,  during  the  first 
three  months  of  his  term,  appointed  twelve,  and  during  his 
administration,  about  double  the  number  of  such  appoint 
ments  made  by  any  of  his  predecessors,  of  whom  Mr.  Mon 
roe  had  made  the  highest  number,  thirty-five.  Yet,  while 
pursuing  practices  so  contrary  to  his  professionsT  he  recom 
mended  in  his  first  annual  Message,  an  amendment  of  the 
Constitution,  bringing  the  election  of  President  directly  to 
the  people,  prohibiting  the  appointment  of  members  of 
Congress,  and  restricting  the  service  of  the  President  to 
one  term  of  four  or  six  years.  But,  objectionable  as  he 
seemed  to  think  a  reelection  to  be,  he  had  not  been  long  in 
office  before  he  consented  to  be  again  a  candidate. 

Among  the  subjects  noticed  in  this  Message  was  that  of 
the  rechartering  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  He 
said,  its  Constitutionality  and  its  expediency  were  both 
questioned,  and  it  had  failed  in  the  great  end  of  establish 
ing  a  uniform  and  sound  currency.  And  he  suggested  in 
its  stead  one  founded  upon  the  credit  of  the  Government 
and  its  revenues  which  should  "  avoid  all  constitutional 
difficulties,  and  secure  all  the  advantages  expected  from 
the  present  Bank/7  This  attack  upon  the  Bank  took  the 
country  by  surprise.  The  reasons  for  agitating  the  subject 
of  its  recharter  six  years  before  the  expiration  of  its  present 
charter,  a  period  extending  two  years  beyond  the  close  of 
his  official  term,  and  during  which  three  new  Congresses  must 
be  elected,  were  for  a  time  incomprehensible  to  the  people. 
The  constitutionality  of  the  Bank,  as  Mr.  Madison  supposed 
when  he  signed  the  bill  establishing  it,  had  been  settled 
by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  by  the  acqui 
escence  of  the  people  in  that  decision  for  a  considerable 
period  ;  nor  were  the  people  aware  of  its  failure  to  create 
a  uniform  and  sound  currency,  as  its  notes  were  current  in 
all  parts  of  the  country. 


78  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

The  subject  was  referred,  in  the  House,  to  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  Mr.  M'Duffie,  of  S.  0.,  Chairman,  who, 
with  a  majority  of  the  Committee,  were  political  friends 
of  the  President.  The  Committee,  in  their  Report,  pro 
nounced  the  Bank  constitutional  and  expedient,  and  disap 
proved  the  President's  project  of  a  new  Bank.  They  con 
troverted  his  statement  that  the  Bank  had  "  failed  to  estab 
lish  a  uniform  and  sound  currency." 

In  the  Senate,  the  Committee  on  Finance,  Mr.  Smith,  of 
Md.,  Chairman,  a  majority  being  friends  of  the  administra 
tion,  made  a  report  on  "  the  expediency  of  establishing  a 
uniform  currency,7'  which  maintained  that  a  sound  and  uni 
form  currency  existed,  furnished  by  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  they  declared  the  President's  scheme 
"  impracticable." 

At  the  same  session,  a  bill  to  authorize  the  General 
Government  to  subscribe  to  the  stock  of  the  Maysville  and 
Lexington  Turnpike  Road  in  Kentucky,  was  vetoed  by  the 
President.  A  similar  bill  in  relation  to  the  Washington 
Turnpike  Company,  was  also  negatived  by  the  President. 
Two  other  bills  for  internal  improvements,  one  of  them  ap 
propriating  money  for  light-houses,  improving  harbors, 
directing  surveys,  &c.,  were  retained  until  the  next  session, 
when  in  his  annual  Message,  he  gave  his  objections  to  the 
bills,  and  to  the  system  of  internal  improvements.  How 
far  these  ve'toes  were  consistent  with  his  pledge  to  Gov 
ernor  Ray  and  the  Legislature  of  Indiana  before  his  elec 
tion,  let  the  reader  judge.  A  bill  was  passed,  however, 
providing  for  the  improvement  of  harbors,  and  clearing 
certain  rivers,  having  passed  the  House,  136  to  53  ;  arid 
the  Senate,  28  to  6  ;  and  another  providing  for  surveys, 
&c.  ;  both  of  which  were  approved  by  the  President.  The 
application  of  the  veto  to  so  many  bills  displeased  many  of 
the  President's  friends. 

Gen.  Jackson  had  in  his  Inaugural  promised  "  to  observe 
toward  the  Indian  tribes  a  just  and  liberal  policy."  His 
sense  of  justice  and  liberality  toward  these  tribes,  a  few 
facts  will  suffice  to  illustrate. 

The  resolute  purpose  of  Mr.  Adams  to  protect  the  Creeks 
in  the  peaceable  possession  of  their  lands  had  provoked  the 
bitter  resentment  of  the  Government  and  people  of  Georgia, 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  t9 

Having  had  intimations  "before  the  election,  that  Gen.  Jack 
son  would  favor  their  claims  to  the  right  of  soil  and  of 
jurisdiction  over  it,  they  lost  no  time  in  attempting  to  gain 
possession.  A  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Geor 
gia  extending  over  the  Cherokee  country  the  laws  of  the 
State.  The  Indians  memorialized  Congress  for  protection. 
The  Attorney-General,  Mr.  Berrien,  taken  from  that  State 
to  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  was  applied  to  for  his  opinion, 
which  was  unfavorable  to  the  claims  of  the  Indians,  conced 
ing  to  them  merely  the  right  of  occupancy,  the  fee  of  the  soil 
being  in  the  State.  It  was  the  purpose  of  the  President  to 
effect  the  removal  of  the  Indians  West  of  the  Mississippi  ; 
and  a  bill  was  reported  for  this  purpose  in  each  House. 
The  debate  on  the  Senate  bill  was  a  long  and  an  able  one. 
The  bill  passed  to  a  third  reading  by  a^vote  of  28  to  19. 
It  passed  the  House,  103  to  97.  This  bill  did  nof  in  words 
compel  the  removal  of  the  Indians.  The  change  of  policy 
consisted  in  conceding  to  the  States  the  right  of  soil,  and 
in  subjecting  the  Indians  to  the  government  of  the  States. 
It  was  presumed,  that,  if  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  sub 
mitting  to  the  laws  of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  or  of  exchang 
ing  their  lands,  they  would  choose  the  latter. 

In  the  course  of  the  debates  on  the  bill,  the  policy  of  the 
Government  toward  the  Indians  by  former  administrations, 
from  that  of  Washington  down,  and  all  the  treaties  made 
from  time  to  time,  were  referred  to,  to  prove  the  claim  of 
the  Indians  to  the  ownership  of  the  lands  ;  and  it  is  cer 
tainly  difficult  to  see  how,  from  the  facts  presented,  both 
Houses  could  sanction  the  new  policy. 

A  treaty  was  made  with  the  Choctaws,  who  ceded  their 
lands,  and  agreed  to  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi  within 
three  years.  Those  choosing  to  remain  as  citizens  of 
Georgia,  were  to  have  reservations  of  land  for  their  use, 
and  after  residing  upon  them  for  five  years,  were  to  possess 
them  in  fee.  They  were  to  be  governed  in  their  Western 
residence  by  laws  of  their  own,  which,  however,  must  not 
be  inconsistent  with  those  of  the  United  States. 

The  Cherokees,  unwilling  to  emigrate,  soon  found  them 
selves  under  the  operation  of  the  laws  of  Georgia  ;  and, 
having  failed  in  their  appeals  to  the  Government  for  pro 
tection,  they  took  measures  to  have  their  case  submitted  to 


80  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  Supreme  Court.  Their  counsel,  Mr.  Wirt,  proposed  to 
Gov.  Gilmer,  of  Georgia,  the  making  of  a  case,  by  consent, 
before  that  Court  ;  but  the  Governor  declined.  • 

George  Tassels,  an  Indian,  having  committed  a  homicide 
in  resisting  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  Georgia,  was  tried, 
convicted  of  murder,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  Before 
the  day  fixed  for  his  execution,  the  State  of  Georgia,  pur 
suant  to  a  writ  of  error  obtained  from  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  was  cited  to  appear,  and  show  cause 
why  judgment  against  Tassels  should  not  be  corrected. 
The  Legislature  declared  the  interference  of  the  Chief-Jus 
tice  in  the  administration  of  the  criminal  laws  of  Georgia  a 
flagrant  violation  of  her  rights  ;  enjoined  all  State  officers 
to  disregard  all  such  mandates  of  the  Court ;  required  the 
Governor  to  resisPby  force  all  invasions  upon  the  admin 
istration  of  the  laws  ;  and  ordered  the  execution  of  Tas 
sels,  which  was  done. 

The  act  of  Georgia  nullifying  the  government  and  laws 
of  the  Indians  and  enforcing  the  laws  of  the  State  within 
the  territory,  made  it  a  misdemeanor  for  white  men  to  re 
side  within  the  limits  of  the  Cherokee  nation  without 
license  from  the  Governor  or  his  agent,  and  without  having 
taken  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
State.  Under  this  act,  Rev.  Mr.  Worcester,  a  missionary, 
and  five  others,  were  arrested.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was 
issued.  Their  discharge  was  demanded  by  their  counsel, 
on  the  ground  that  the  act  under  which  they  had  been  ap 
prehended  was  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Constitution  of  Georgia.  The  judge  main 
tained  the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  But  as  Mr.  Wor 
cester  and  one  of  the  others  were  missionaries,  and  one  of 
them  (Mr.  W.)  was  a  postmaster  ;  as  they  were  there  by 
consent  of  the  General  Government  for  the  purpose  of 
civilizing  and  Christianizing  the  Indians  ;  and  as  they 
were  Government  agents  for  the  disbursement  of  the  pub 
lic  moneys  for  that  purpose  ;  he  discharged  them  under 
the  State  law  which  excepted  all  agents  of  the  General 
Government  from  its  provisions.  The  other  four  persons 
were  bound  over  for  trial. 

Mr.  Worcester  was  soon  after  removed  from  the  office  of 
postmaster,  with  the  view,  as  was  supposed,  to  make  way 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  81 

for  his  arrest.  This  supposition  proved  true.  Ten  persons 
were  indicted,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  four  years  imprison 
ment  !  Only  Mr.  Worcester  and  Dr.  Butler  were  impris 
oned  ;  the  others  having1  been  pardoned  on  giving"  assur 
ance  that  they  would  not  again  violate  the  laws.  Mr. 
Worcester  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  relief.  The 
Court  pronounced  the  laws  of  Georgia  unconstitutional,  and 
ordered  Worcester's  discharge.  The  mandate  of  the  Court 
was  disregarded,  the  missionaries  kept  in  prison,  without 
hope  of  liberation  before  another  session  of  the  Court,  the 
next  year.  They  therefore  discontinued  their  suit  ;  and 
were  discharged  by  the  Governor.  About  three  years 
thereafter,  a  treaty  was  concluded  providing  for  the  re 
moval  of  the  Cherokees. 

The  proclamation  of  President  Jackson  against  the 
South  Carolina  nullifiers  was  issued  before  the  Indian  diffi 
culties  were  ended.  This  raised  for  a  time  the  hopes  of 
the  Cherokees.  The  President  having  declared  the  su 
premacy  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
over  those  of  State  authority,  and  having  acknowledged 
the  Supreme  Court  to  be  the  proper  tribunal  to  decide  upon 
the  constitutionality  of  the  laws,  they  hoped  he  would  ulti 
mately  enforce  the  treaties  and  the  laws  made  for  their 
protection.  But  their  hopes  were  vain.  What  was  consti 
tutional  on  one  side  of  the  dividing  line  between  the  States 
was  unconstitutional  on  the  other  !  In  other  words, 
nullification  on  one  side  was  wrong,  and  on  the  other 
right. 

Among  the  party  questions  during  the  administrations 
of  Adams  and  Jackson,  was  that  of  the  West  India  Trade. 
No  preceding  administration  had  been  able  to  secure  a 
trade  with  the  British  West  India  Islands  on  terms  satis 
factory  to  our  Government.  Acts  of  Parliament  were 
passed  soon  after  Mr.  Adams  came  into  office,  again  open 
ing  certain  colonial  ports  upon  new  terms  and  conditions  ; 
but  they  provided  that  these  ports  should  be  closed  against 
any  nation  that  should  not  accept  these  terms.  Mr.  Adams 
did  not  accept  them  for  reasons  which  he  assigned.  The 
acts  had  not  been  officially  communicated  ;  and  they  were 
so  obscure  that  they  had  been  differently  con-strued  by 
British  officers  in  different  colonies  ;  and  as  Great  Britain 


82  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

had  promised  to  resume  negotiation,  it  was  better  to  await 
the  result  of  that  negotiation.  An  arrangement  by  treaty 
was  preferable,  because  its  terms  could  not  be  avoided  but 
by  mutual  agreement  ;  whereas  an  act  of  Parliament  could 
be  altered  or  repealed  whenever  the  interests  of  Great  Brit 
ain  should  require  a  change  of  policy. 

Mr.  Gallutiii  was  sent  to  England  to  negotiate  ;  but  be 
fore  his  credentials  had  been  presented,  an  order  in  council 
was  issued  cutting  off  all  negotiation,  and  prohibiting  all 
intercourse  with  her  West  India  Colonies.  In  pursuance 
of  acts  of  1818  and  1820,  our  ports  were  declared  closed 
against  British  vessels  from  any  place  in  any  British  terri 
tory  to  which  our  vessels  were  not  admitted.  By  a  treaty 
concluded  at  London,  in  August,  1827,  a  reciprocal  trade 
was  established  between  the  United  States  and  the  terri 
tories  of  Great  Britain  in  Europe  for  ten  years  from  1828  ; 
but  the  exclusion  of  our  vessels  from  her  Colonies  was  con 
tinued.  Our  produce,  however,  still  found  a  market  in  the 
British  West  India  Islands  by  way  of  the  Danish,  Swedish, 
and  other  neutral  islands  ;  to  which  it  was  carried  in 
American  vessels  ;  and  thence  it  was  reshippcd  to  the  Brit 
ish  Islands.  Hence  our  navigation  was  not  very  sensibly 
affected.  The  Canadians  complained  that  the  arrangement 
had  not  secured  to  them  the  advantage  of  supplying  the 
West  India  Islands  ;  and  the  extra  cost  of  this  indirect 
trade  fell  upon  British  consumers. 

The  new  administration  having  charged  its  predecessor 
with  the  loss  of  the  West  India  trade,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  a  strenuous  effort  would  be  made  to  regain  it.  Mr. 
McLane,  the  new  Minister  to  England,  was  directed  to  re 
present  to  the  British  Government,  that  the  American  peo 
ple,  in  changing  the  administration,  had  testified  their  dis 
approval  of  the  acts  of  the  late  administration,  and  that  the 
claims  set  up  by  them  which  had  caused  the  interruption  of 
the  trade,  would  not  be  urged  :  that  is,  what  had  been  in 
judiciously  asked  as  a  right,  we  were  now  willing  to  receive 
as  a  600?i ;  and  the  present  administration  should  not  be 
held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  their  predecessors. 

An  arrangement  was  in  due  time  effected.  It  was  at 
once  announced,  with  great  exultation,  by  the  administra 
tion  presses,  as  an  achievement  which  had  baflled  the 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  83 

diplomacy  of  our  Government  for  forty  years.  The  re 
covery,  "  by  the  honest,  high-minded,  straight-forward  ad 
ministration  of  Andrew  Jackson,"  of  an  unrestricted  com 
merce,  temporarily  enjoyed  under  the  act  of  Parliament,  of 
July,  1825,  but  "  unwillingly  and  criminally  thrown  away 
by  the  blundering  negotiation1'  of  Mr.  Adams,  was  hailed 
as  an  important  achievement.  The  opposition  declared  not 
only  that  the  trade  had  not  been  lost,  but  that  nothing  had 
leen  gained  by  the  new  arrangement  ;  and  that  our  navigation 
which  had  enjoyed  the  carrying*  trade,  would  le  diminished 
by  the  British  shipping,  for  which  loss  no  equivalent  would 
be  received. 

The  arrangement  secured  to  our  vessels  and  cargoes  the 
right  to  enter  the  ports  of  her  West  India  and  other  British 
Colonies,  on  equal  terms  with  her  own  coming  from  the 
United  States.  But  the  benefits  of- this  anticipated  "re 
ciprocal  trade"  had  scarcely  begun  to  be  realized,  when,  by 
an  act  of  Parliament,  produce  coining  into  the  British  West 
India  ports  directly  from  the  United  States,  was  subjected 
to  exorbitant  duties,  but  was  admitted  into  the  Canadian 
provinces,  and  thence  shipped  to  the  British  West  India 
Islands  in  British  vessels,  free  of  duty,  to  the  exclusion  of  Amer 
ican  shipping.  The  flour,  also,  manufactured  in  Canada  from 
American  wheat,  was  considered  as  having  changed  its 
character,  and  was  admitted  free  into  England,  as  cckniil 
produce.  The  duty  on  a  barrel  of  flour  from  the  United 
States  into  the  British  West  India  Colonies,  was  6s.,  or 
$1  33  ;  but  from  the  Canadas  no  duty  was  charged.  Lum 
ber  was  charged  at  $7  per  1000  feet  ;  but  from  the  British 
North  American  Colonies  it  was  free.  To  evade  the 
duties,  British  vessels  conveyed  our  produce  to  Canadian 
ports,  and  thence,  as  British  produce,  to  the  islands,  free 
of  duty. 

No  wonder  that  the  British  papers  rejoiced  at  the  bene 
fits  derived  from  "  the  arrangement."  One  said:  "Jona 
than,  after  all,  will  not  find  the  great  boon  so  good  a  thing 
as  he  expected,  under  the  existing  restrictions."  Another 
said  :  "  We  only  allow  their  vessels  to  bring  to  our  ports 
the  produce  and  manufactures  of  the  United  States  :  they 
make  their  ports  free  to  our  commerce  in  every  sense  of 
the  word." 


84  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

As  was  predicted  by  the  opposition,  our  tunnage  was 
greatly  diminished,  and  the  British  increased.  So  inju 
riously  did  this  policy  affect  the  lumber  trade  of  Maine 
with  the  West  Indies,  in  which  a  vast  amount  of  shipping 
had  been  previously  employed,  that  Congress  was  petitioned 
for  relief.  The  adverse  effects  of  this  boasted  "  arrange 
ment"  w^re,  as  far  as  possible,  concealed.  The  adminis 
tration  presses  were  silent  in  respect  to  its  practical  work 
ings  ;  they  rather  continued  to  claim  credit  for  the  measure. 
Even  Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years'  View/'  after  its 
disastrous  effects  had  been  so  severely  felt,  lauds  it  in 
terms  no  less  eulogistic  than  those  in  which  it  was  first 
announced.  Thousands  of  the  old  friends  of  Gen.  Jackson, 
still  speak  of  this  measure  as  one  that  reflects  the  highest 
honor  upon  his  administration. 

In  the  summer  of  1831,  Mr.  McLane  was  appointed  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  in  President  Jackson's  new  Cabinet, 
and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  appointed  to  take  his  place  as 
Minister  at  London.  The  appointment  was  made  during 
the  recess  of  the  Senate,  and  the  nomination  was  made  to 
that  body  at  the  next  session.  The  nomination,  after  an 
excited  debate  of  several  days,  was  rejected  by  the  casting 
vote  of  Vice-President  Calhoun.  The  principal  objection 
made  to  the  nomination,  was  the  character  of  his  instruc 
tions  to  Mr.  McLane  respecting  the  West  India  negotiation, 
by  which  he  had  humbled  us  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  nations. 
He  had  instructed  our  Minister  to  press  upon  a  foreign 
Government  the  misconduct  of  one  part  of  the  American 
family  in  the  relations  of  our  Government  with  that  foreign 
power,  and  the  more  amiable  and  kind  feelings  of  another 
division  of  it.  Mr.  Clay  was  opposed  to  the  nomination 
also  because  the  nominee  had,  as  he  believed,  introduced 
the  odious  system  of  proscription  into  the  General  Govern 
ment  ;  the  system  practiced  in  the  gentleman's  own  State 
by  the  party  of  which  he  was  the  reputed  head.  It  was  a 
detestable  system,  putting  up  officers  and  honors  to  a 
scramble  to  be  decided  at  every  Presidential  election. 

Mr.  Marcy,  among  others,  replied,  defending  the  instruc 
tions,  and  censuring  the  conduct  of  the  previous  adminis 
tration,  by  which  the  colonial  trade  was  lost.  lie  also 
vindicated  the  politics  of  New  York.  They  (the  politicians) 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  85 

saw  nothing  wrong  in  the  rule,  that  "  to  the  victor  belong 
the  spoils  of  the  enemy."  The  rejection  was  effected  by 
the  united  votes  of  the  opposition  Senators,  and  those  who, 
in  the  quarrel  between  the  President  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  had 
attached  themselves  to  the  fortunes  of  the  latter.  Mr.  Van 
Buren  being  suspected  of  some  agency  in  the  disruption  of 
the  Cabinet,  and,  as  a  political  rival,  an  object  of  jealousy 
to  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  withal  a  favorite  of  the  President,  their 
hatred  to  him  was  not  less  intense  than  that  which  they 
entertained  toward  his  chief.  However  justly  Mr.  Van 
Buren  may  have  incurred  the  censure  of  the  Senate  and  of 
the  American  people,  his  rejection,  by  the  reaction  in  pub 
lic  sentiment,  which  it  produced,  was  one  of  the  most 
effective  means  of  his  promotion. 

The  Democratic  party  have  been  charged  with  holding 
to  the  Southern  doctrine  of  State  Rights,  or  Nullification. 
In  the  great  debate  in  the  Senate,  in  1830,  on  Foot's  reso 
lutions  relative  to  the  public  lands,  in  which  the  powers  of 
the  General  Government  and  the  State  Governments,  and 
the  nature  of  the  Union,  became  a  prominent  topic  of  dis 
cussion,  the  views  of  Democratic  Senators  appear  to  have 
coincided  very  nearly  with  those  of  Mr.  Haync.  It  is  be 
lieved,  that,  of  all  the  administration  Senators  who  partici 
pated  in  the  debate,  only  one,  (Mr.  Livingston,  of  Louisi 
ana,,)  took  the  ground  of  Mr.  Webster.  Mr.  Hayne  main 
tained  that  the  Constitution  was  a  compact  between  the 
States,  as  States;  and  that  there  was  no  higher  authority 
than  that  of  a  State,  as  a  party  to  the  compact,  to  judge  of 
infractions  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  that  a  State  had  the 
right  to  nullify  any  law  of  Congress  which  it  should  deem 
unconstitutional.  This  right  was  claimed  on  the  authority 
of  the  Kentucky  Resolutions  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 
[See  page  33.]  And  it  is  well  recollected  that  the  lead 
ing  administration  presses  pronounced  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Hayne  unanswerable — an  "  able,  sound,  democratic  argu 
ment,"  for  which  the  Democrats  of  the  nation  "owed  him 
a  debt  of  gratitude."  And  it  was,  for  a  time,  at  least, 
highly  applauded  by  leading  men  of  that  party  in  all  parts 
of  the  Union.  Mr.  Benton,  Mr.  Woodbury,  Mr.  Grundy, 
Mr.  Rowan,  and  others  took  the  side  of  Hayne,  though  all 
did  not  assert  the  right  of  violent  resistance.  Mr.  Rowan 


86  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

pronounced  the  idea  that  the  Supreme  Court  had  the  power 
to  decide  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  a  law,  a  fal 
lacy.  These  doctrines,  he  said,  had  been  inferred  from  the 
tenor  of  the  first  message  of  Mr.  Adams  to  Congress.  Now, 
the  explicit  avowal  of  them  by  the  honorable  Senator  (Mr. 
Webster)  removed  all  doubt,'as  to  the  political  faith  of  Mr. 
Adams.  His  most  distinguished  apostle  had  avowed  it. 
"  The  tuo  parties,"  said  Mr,  R.,  "  are  now  clearly  distinguish 
able  by  their  opposite  political  tenets  ;  the  one  headed  by 
our  illustrious  chief  magistrate,  who  is  the  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  the  States  ;  the  other  party  is  now  headed  by  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts."  He  expressly  declared  the 
right  of  a  State  to  resist  a  law  of  Congress  by  force. 

Did  Mr.  Rowan  speak  "  by  authority"  when  he  claimed 
Gen.  Jackson  as  a  supporter  of  the  doctrines  then  and 
there  advocated  by  the  leading  Democratic  'Senators  ?  Of 
this  there  may  be  on  the  public  records  no  positive  evi 
dence.  But  his  sanction  of  the  nullification,  by  Georgia,  of 
the  treaties  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  affords  strong  presumptive  evidence,  that,  up 
to  the  time  of  South  Carolina  nullification,  of  which  his 
enemy,  Mr.  Calhoun,  was  the  principal  author,  he  favored 
the  Southern  doctrine,  as  defended  in  this  debate.  And 
bad  not  actual  resistance  to  the  laws  been  determined  on 
by  that  State,  it  is  not  improbable  that  these  doctrines,  now 
BO  generally  odious,  would  have  continued,  to  this  day,  a 
part  of  the  Democratic  creed. 

At  the  session  of  1831-1832,  a  new  tariff  act  was  passed, 
by  which  the  duties  on  some  articles,  as  iron,  coarse  wool 
ens,  &c.,  were  materially  reduced  ;  though,  on  the  whole, 
it  was  not  less  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  protection  than 
the  act  of  1828.  In  South  Carolina,  the  "  Union"  party 
considered  it  as  a  concession,  while  the  "  States  rights" 
party  regarded  it  as  no  less  objectionable  than  former  acts. 
It  passed  the  House,  132  to  65  ;  the  Senate,  32  to  1G.  This 
was  the  act  which  provoked  the  hostility  of  South  Caro 
lina.-  Two  propositions  made  at  the  same  session  for  a 
large  reduction  of  duties  to  meet  the  views  of  Southern 
members,  were  rejected  ;  one  of  which  had  been  reported 
by  Mr.  Verplanck,  who  represented  the  interests  of  the  im 
porters  of  the  city  of  New  York,,  who  were  opposed  to 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  87 

restrictions  upon  trade  ;  the  other  by  Mr.  M'Duffie,  which 
required  a  gradual  reduction  to  a  uniform  duty  of  12|  per 
cent,  on  all  goods  imported  after  the  30th  of  June,  1834. 

In  October  following,  (1832,)  the  time  to  prepare  for 
forcible  resistance  to  the  law,  so  long  threatened,  arrived. 
The  Governor  of  South  Carolina  convened  the  Legislature, 
which  authorized  the  calling  of  a  Convention  "  to  consider 
the  character  and  extent  of  the  usurpations  of  the  General 
Government."  The  Convention  assembled  in  November, 
and  adopted  an  ordinance  declaring  the  tariff  act  null  and 
void,  and  forbidding  the  authorities  of  cither  the  General 
or  State  Government  to  enforce  the  payment  of  duties  with 
in  that  State.  Any  act  of  Congress  to  authorize  the  em 
ployment  offeree  against  the  State  was  declared  void,  and 
would  not  be  submitted  to  ;  and  from  the  time  of  its  pas 
sage,  the  State  would  consider  herself  absolved  from  fur 
ther  obligations  to  the  Union,  and  proceed  to  organize  a 
separate  government.  The  ordinance  was  to  take  effect 
the  1st  of  February,  1833. 

On  the  llth  of  December  was  issued  the  famous  Procla 
mation  of  President  Jackson  against  nullification.  The 
views  which  it  expresses  of  the  nature  of  the  Union,  the 
supremacy  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  the  prero 
gative  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  respect  to  determining  the 
validity  of  the  laws  of  Congress,  were  similar  to  those  ex 
pressed  by  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Livingston  in  the  Senate  ; 
which  induced  the  belief  that  the  proclamation  was  written 
by  the  latter,  who  was  now  Secretary  of  State.  It  very 
ably  opposed  the  doctrine  of  secession,  and  defended  the 
right  of  the  General  Government  to  punish  those  who 
should  attempt,  by  force  of  arms,  to  destroy  it  ;  and  he  ad 
monished  the  Carolinians  not  to  incur  the  penalty  of  the 
laws. 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  laws  to  give 
effect  to  the  ordinance.  Arms  and  ammunition  were 
ordered  to  be  purchased  :  and  all  needful  preparation  was 
made  to  resist  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  Congress  for 
the  collection  of  the  revenue.  A  bill  was  reported  in  Con 
gress,  empowering  the  President  to  employ  the  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  Union,  to  enforce  the  collection  of  the 
revenue  in  case  of  resistance.  The  bill  was  passed  in  the 


88  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Senate  the  20th  of  February,  32  to  1.  Mr.  Tyler  alone 
voted  in  the  negative,  other  Senators  opposed  to  tho  bill 
having  withdrawn.  It  passed  the  Uouse  on  the  1st  of 
March,  148  to  48. 

To  prevent  apprehended  collision,  the  State  of  Virginia 
had  assumed  the  office  of  mediator,  and  appointed  a  com 
missioner,  (Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh,)  to  expostulate  with 
the  Government  of  South  Carolina  for  the  preservation  of 
peace.  The  nullifying  acts  were  to  go  into  effect  the  1st 
of  February  ;  but  on  being  informed  of  the  intention  of 
Virginia  to  interpose,  and  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Leigh, 
the  operation  of  the  laws  was  suspended  until  after  the  ad 
journment  of  Congress.  Another  cause  contributed  to  this 
result.  Mr.  Verplanck  had  again  introduced  a  bill  similar 
to  that  of  the  preceding  session,  proposing  a  sudden  reduc 
tion  of  duties,  within  two  years,  to  a  uniform  rate  of  20 
per  cent.  ;  and  there  was,  for  a  time,  some  hope  of  its 
passage,  which  would  have  pacified  the  rebellious  State. 

But  while  this  bill  was  pending,  and  its  passage  having 
become  quite  improbable  at  this  session,  Mr.  Clay,  on  the 
12th  of  February,  1833,  introduced  his  compromise  tariff 
bill,  which  had  in  view  two  objects  :  one,  to  prevent  the 
destruction  of  the  tariff  policy  ;  the  other,  to  avert  civil 
war,  and  restore  peace  to  the  country.  This  bill,  before 
it  passed  the  Senate,  was  adopted  in  the  House,  in  lieu  of 
Mr.  Verplanck's  bill,  and  passed,  (Feb.  26,)  118  to  84.  It 
passed  the  Senate,  29  to  16.  It  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Web 
ster  and  others  because  it  gave  up  the  principle  of  protec 
tion,  and  was  insufficient  to  sustain  the  manufacturing  in 
terest.  It  was  urged  by  Mr.  Clay  in  reply,  that,  although 
Mr.  Verplanck's  could  not  pass  at  the  present  session,  there 
was  reason  to  fear  that  an  attempt  in  the  next  Congress  to 
destroy  protection  would  be  successful  ;  and  it  would  be 
better  to  extend  the  period  of  gradual  reduction  to  the  30th 
of  June,  1842,  than  to  intrust  the  adjustment  of  the  tariff 
to  the  incoming  Congress.  The  act  provided,  that  in  all 
cases  in  which  the  duties  exceeded  20  per  cent,  was  to  be 
gradually  deducted,  thus  :  one-tenth  of  all  over  and  above 
20  per  cent.,  after  the  31st  of  December,  1835  ;  another 
tenth  after  the  end  of  each  of  the  years,  1837  and 
1839  ;  and  of  the  remainder,  one-half  after  the  end  of  the 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION  89 

year  1841  ;  and  the  rernaindei  after  the  30th  of  June, 
1842. 

On  the  llth  of  March,  1833,  the  nullifying  ordinance  of 
South  Carolina  was  repealed. 

With  many  it  has  been  a  question,  whether,  in  1830, 
President  Jackson  really  held  to  the  opinions  ascribed  to 
him  by  his  nullifying  friends.  It  is  by  some  supposed  that 
he  did,  and  that  the.  practical  working  of  the  scheme  con 
vinced  him  of  his  error,  and  led  him  to  abjure  the  heresy. 
An  extract  from  a  debate  in  the  House  on  the  "  Force  Bill," 
may  assist  in  solving  this  question. 

In  the  course  of  this  debate,  the  consistency  of  the  Presi 
dent  on  the  doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty  was  called  in 
question.  Mr.  Daniel,  of  Ky.,  alluded  to  the  controversy 
between  Georgia  and  the  General  Government  in  regard  to 
the  claims  of  the  Cherokees,  whose  case  had  been  carried 
by  appeal  from  the  Courts  of  Georgia  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Mr.  D.  said  it  was  well  known  that 
the  President  was  in  favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  25th  section 
of  the  Judiciary  Act,  which  authorized  the  right  of  appeal 
from  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  States  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  ;  and  this,  said  Mr.  D.,  address 
ing  the  Chair,  you,  yourself,  well  know.  [Mr.  Polk,  of 
Tennessee,  then  occupied  the  Chair  in  the  absence  of 
Speaker  Stevenson.]  All  the  members  from  Tennessee,  he 
believed,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  voted  for  the  repeal 
of  this  section.  But  there  were  many  more  corroborative 
proofs  of  the  President's  opinions  on  this  subject.  A  dis 
tinguished  Senator  (Mr.  Grundy)  from  the  President's  own 
State,  expressed  the  following  opinion  in  1830,  in  the  de 
bate  on  Foot's  resolution  :  "  If  the  State  possesses  the 
power  to  act  as  I  have  shown,  the  necessary  consequence 
is,  that  the  act  of  Congress  must  cease  to  operate  in  the 
State,  and  Congress  must  acquiesce  by  abandoning  the 
power,  or  obtain  an  express  grant  from  the  great  source 
from  which  all  its  powers  are  drawn.  The  General  Gov 
ernment  have  no  right  to  use  force.  It  would  be  a  glaring 
absurdity  to  suppose  that  the  State  had  the  right  to  judge 
of  the  constitutionality  of  an  act  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  at  the  same  time  to  say  that  Congress  had  the 
right  to  enforce  submission  to  the  act."  The  doctrines  ad- 


90  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

vocated  by  Air.  Uayne,  said  Mr.  D.,  had  at  that  time  met 
with  the  approbation  of  the  President,  as  expressed  in  di 
rect  terms  in  a  letter  from  him  to  Mr.  Hayne.  The  terms 
\vcre  to  the  effect,  that  the  speech  contained  an  exposition 
of  the  true  principles  of  republicanism,  and  that  it  should 
be  bound  up  and  placed  in  his  library  along  with  the  works 
of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Mr.  Bell,  of  Term.,  here  rose  and  inquired  of  Mr.  Daniel, 
whether  he  had  a  personal  knowledge  of  the  President's  ap 
proval  of  these  principles,  and  of  his  commendation  of  Mr. 
Hayne's  speech. 

Before  Mr.  Daniel  could  reply,  Mr.  Carson,  of  N.  C.,  rose 
with  much  earnestness,  and  said  :  "  I,  from  my  personal 
knowledge,  can  declare  that  such  is  the  fact.  The 
President  expressed  to  me  his  approbation  of  that  speech, 
in  person." 

Mr.  Daniel  proceeded,  and  said,  what  he  knew  of  the 
President's  opinions  on  this  subject  was  from  documents 
emanating  from  his  own  pen,  and  from  the  various  state 
ments  of  gentlemen  whose  veracity  could  not  be  impeached, 
independent  of  a  host  of  corroborating  circumstances. 
These  nullifying  doctrines  had  thus  received  the  sanction 
of  the  member  from  Tennessee,  (Mr.  Grundy)  who  had  just 
advocated  the  "  Force  Bill"  in  the  Senate.  They  were  ap 
proved  by  the  President  himself,  until,  in  the  downward 
path  of  his  administration,  he  had  thought  fit  to  abandon 
every  principle  which  had  brought  him  into  power  :  econ 
omy,  retrenchment,  State  rights — all  that  had  formed 
the  watchword  of  the  party — all  had  vanished  into 
thin  air. 

Add  to  this  testimony  the  fact  before  stated,  that  the 
leading  Democratic  papers  of  the  country,  among  which 
was  the  Albany  Argus,  the  acknowledged  exponent  of  the 
principles  of  its  party,  commended  in  unqualified  terms,  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Hayne  for  its  "  able,  sound,  democratic  argu 
ment,"  and  there  is  no  room  to  doubt,  that  President  Jack 
son,  the  head  of  the  party,  with  the  great  body  of  its  mem 
bers,  who  were  wont  to  boast  of  their  adherence  to  the 
Jeffersonian  republican  principles  of  1798,  were  in  favor  of 
the  doctrine  of  Nullification.  We  may,  however,  congratu 
late  the  country,  that  he  was  compelled,  by  the  force  of 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  91 

circumstances,  to  change  bis  position.  His  commanding 
influence  might  otherwise  have  popularized  this  disorganiz 
ing,  revolutionary  doctrine,  and  confirmed  the  Southern, 
construction  of  the  Constitution.  For  the  decided  stand  he 
took  against  the  nullifiers  of  1832,  he  deserves  high  praise. 
Had  a  similar  determination  to  enforce  the  laws  been  mani 
fested  by  the  late  Executive  in  the  incipient  istage  of  the 
present  Rebellion,  it  would  have  been  promptly  quelled  ; 
and  the  immense  sacrifice  of  life  and  treasure  which  it 
will  have  occasioned,  might  have  been  avoided. 

At  the  session  of  1831-1832,  a  bill  making  appropriations 
for  certain  internal  improvements  for  the  year  1832.  passed 
both  Houses  ;  and,  notwithstanding  his  previously  ex 
pressed  objections  to  a  system  of  internal  improvement,  the 
President  approved  the  bill.  It  contained  about  fifty  ob 
jects  of  appropriation,  some  of  them  of  less  importance 
than  those  which  he  had  before  negatived,  and  appropri 
ated  sums  exceeding,  in  the  aggregate,  $1,200,000.  Another 
bill,  making  appropriations  for  the  improvement  of  harbors 
and  rivers,  passed  the  House  95  to  68,  and  was  ordered  en 
grossed  in  the  Senate,  25  to  16.  This  bill,  though  quite  as 
national  in  its  character  as  the  other,  did  not  receive  the 
President's  signature.  Though  he  received  it  three  days 
before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  he  retained  it  until 
Congress  had  adjourned,  and  thus  prevented  further  action 
upon  it.  One  or  two  other  bills  during  this  session  re 
ceived  his  veto.  The  frequent  use  of  this  power  by  Gen. 
Jackson  obtained  for  him  the  significant  title  of  "Veto 
President." 

The  subject  of  the  Public  Lands,  which  had  frequently 
engaged  the  attention  of  Congress,  was  again  agitated  at 
this  session,  (1832.)  A  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Clay. 
The  revenue  from  duties  on  imports  being  sufficient  for  or 
dinary  purposes,  he  proposed  a  distribution  of  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales  of  public  lands  among  the  States  for  a  limited 
time,  subject  to  be  resumed  by  the  Government  in  case  of 
war.  To  the  five  per  cent,  now  reserved  from  the  proceeds, 
ten  per  cent.  was. to  be  added  for  making  internal  improve 
ments  in  the  new  States.  This  was  intended  to  allay  the 
complaints  of  the  people  of  those  States,  that  the  public 
lands  were  exempt  from  taxation  for  five  years  from  the 


92  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

time  of  sale.  The  residue  of  the  fund  derived  from  sales 
was  to  be  divided  among  all  the  States  in  proportion  to 
their  federal  population,  to  be  applied  to  purposes  of  edu 
cation,  internal  improvements,  or  colonization,  at  the 
pleasure  of  each  State.  The  time  limited  for  distribution 
was  five  years. 

A  counter  report  was  made  by  another  Committee,  pro 
posing  to  reduce  the  price  of  fresh  lands  to  one  dollar  per 
acre,  and  of  those  which  had  been  in  market  five  years  to 
fifty  cents  per  acre  ;  and  proposing  to  allow  to  the  new 
States  fifteen  instead  of  ten  cents  in  addition  to  the  present 
five  per  cent.  Mr.  Clay's  bill,  however,  was  adopted,  28  to 
16.  It  was  sent  to  the  House,  where  it  was  virtually  re 
jected  by  postponing  its  consideration  to  the  first  Monday 
of  December  next.  Tfie  bill  was  renewed  at  the  next  ses 
sion,  and  with  some  amendments  passed  the  Senate,  24  to 
20  ;  the  House,  96  to  40.  The  bill  was  received  by  the 
President  the  day  before  the  close  of  the  session,  but  was 
not  returned  by  him  until  the  next  session — which  was 
virtually  another  veto.  Having  in  his  first  Annual  Mes 
sage,  (December,  1829,)  recommended  the  distribution  of 
the  surplus  revenue  among  the  several  States,  as  the  most 
proper  mode  of  disposing  of  it,  a  disapproval  of  the  mea 
sure  was  to  many  quite  unexpected,  and  was  imputed  to 
other  reasons  than  those  given  in  the  Message  accompany 
ing  the  returned  bill. 

The  unexpected  attack  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
in  the  President's  first  Message,  has  been  noticed.  The  ulti 
mate  destruction  of  this  Institution  against  such  odds  as 
he  had  to  encounter  at  the  commencement  of  the  contest, 
is  one  of  the  strange  events  which  mark  our  political 
history. 

The  stockholders  of  the  Bank  applied  at  this  session  for 
a  renewal  of  its  charter.  Among  the  reasons  stated  for  so 
early  an  application,  they  said  :  "  Unless  the  question  is 
decided  by  the  present  Congress,  no  definitive  action  can 
be  expected  until  within  two  years  of  the  expiration  of  the 
charter  ;  a  period  before  which,  in  the  opinion  of  your  me 
morialists,  it  is  highly  expedient,  not  merely  in  reference 
to  the  institution  itself,  but  to  the  interests  of  the  nation, 
that  the  determination  of  Congress  should  be  known." 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  93 

The  memorial  was  referred,  in  the  Senate,  to  a  Select 
Committee  ;  in  the  House,  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means.  The  Chairmen,  Mr.  Dallas,  in  the  Senate,  and  Mr. 
McDuffie,  in  the  House,  were  both  Democrats.  The  bill 
reported  by  Mr.  Dallas  was  the  one  adopted  in  both  Houses. 
It  passed  the  Senate,  28  to  20  ;  the  House,  107  to  85  ;  but 
it  was  vetoed  by  the  President  ;  for  which  act  he  was 
severely  censured  by  some  of  his  political  friends,  as  well 
as  nearly  all  his  opponents.  He  assigned  various  reasons 
for  the  veto  ;  but  the}7  failed  to  satisfy  the  friends  of  the 
Bank.  The  opinions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  contended, 
ought  not  to  control  the  coordinate  authorities.  "  The 
Congress,  the  Executive,  and  the  Court  must  each  for  itself 
be  guided  by  its  own  opinion  of  the  Constitution.  Each 
public  officer  swears  that  he  will  support  it  os  he  under 
stands  it,  and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others."  And  he 
said  the  President  was  independent  of  b0th  Congress  and 
the  Judges. 

Nowhere  was  the  President  more  severely  censured  for 
the  veto  than  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  had  enjoyed  great 
popularity.  At  a  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  it  was  declared, 
that  his  rejection  of  the  Bank  bill,  his  assaults  on  the  prin 
ciple  of  protection  to  American  industry,  upon  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  upon  the  independence  of  Congress,  had 
"  severed  the  ties  by  which  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  had 
been  connected  with  him  •"  and  they  declared  that,  "  the 
reelection  of  a  President  whose  official  path  had  been 
strewed  with  violated  pledges,  would  be  a  national 
calamity." 

In  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  a  Committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  inspect  the  books  and  examine  into  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  Bank.  Numerous  acts  of  misconduct  had  been 
alleged  against  the  Bank  as  furnishing  ground  for  the  in 
quiry.  The  majority  of  the  Committee  reported  six  cases 
of  alleged  wrong  doing,  '-which  were  designed  to  show 
that  the  Bank  had  violated  its  charter.  But  the  Commit 
tee  would  not  express  their  opinion  as  to  their  force.  Al 
legations  were  also  made  of  corrupt  management,  designed 
to  show  that  the  Bank  was  no  longer  entitled  to  public 
confidence.  A  counter  report  was  made  by  the  minority, 
in  which  the  allegations  of  the  majority  were  met  arid 


94  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

severally  disposed  of.  A  third  report  was  made  by  John 
Quincy  Adams  alone,  \vho  had  joined  with  ,his  two  col 
leagues  of  the  minority,  McDuffie  and  Watmough,  in  the 
second  report  above  mentioned.  This  report  of  Mr.  Adams 
discloses  the  cause  of  the  first  attack  upon  the  Bank. 
The  facts  reported  by  Mr.  A.,  though  published  among  the 
public  documents,  are  known  to  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
American  people.  He  says  :  "  They  are  not  noticed  in  the 
report  of  the  Chairman,  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  sub 
scriber,  are  more  deserving  of  the  attention  of  Congress 
and  of  the  nation,  than  any  other  papers  commented  upon 
in  the  report." 

It  appeared  that  Isaac  Hill,  editor  of  a  Democratic  paper 
in  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  chief  director  of  the  party  in  that 
State,  who  had  recently  been  appointed  a  Controller  of  the 
Treasury  at  Washington,  had,  in  June,  1829,  three  months 
after  the  Inauguration  of  Gen.  Jackson,  sent  to  his  friends 
in  Philadelphia  two  petitions,  to  one  of  which  he  had  ob 
tained  the  names  of  about  sixty  members  of  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Legislature,  and  which  his  friends  were  to  present  to 
the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Bank,  asking  for  a 
change  in  the  Board  of  Directors  in  the  branch  at  Ports 
mouth.  Several  Jackson  men  were  named  in  the  petition 
for  directors. 

Soon  after,  the  Secretary  of  War  wrote  to  Mr.  Mason, 
President  of  the  branch  at  Portsmouth,  directing  the  books, 
papers,  and  funds  of  the  Pension  Agency  to  be  delivered  to 
a  Mr.  Pickering,  of  Concord,  for  the  benefit,  as  is  evident, 
of  a  smo.ll  bank,  of  which  Mr.  Hill  was  the  president  before 
his  removal  to  Washington.  Mr.  Mason  objected  to  this 
order,  as  contrary  to  law.  The  charter  made  it  the  duty 
of  the  Bank  to  disburse  the  public  moneys  for  the  Govern 
ment  ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  pension  funds  were  placed 
in  its  branches  ;  and  Mr.  Mason  denied  the  legality  of  the 
order  and  his  own  right  to  surrender  the  funds  and  papers 
as  required. 

On\he  llth  of  July,  1829,  Mr.  Ingham,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  transmitted  to  Mr.  Biddle,  President  of  the  Bank, 
a  confidential  letter  from  Mr.  Woodbury,  of  N.  H.,  contain 
ing  a  complaint  against  the  President  of  the  branch  at 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  95 

Portsmouth,  and  charging  .that  the  influence  of  the  Bank 
was  used  "  with  a  view  to  political  effect."  He  said  also 
that  the  people  desired  Mr.  Mason's  removal,  many  of  whom 
had  requested  him  (Mr.  W.)  to  ask  his  (Mr.  Ingham's)  in 
fluence,  at  the  mother  Bank,  in  producing  a  change.  He 
said,  further,  that  similar  complaints  had  come  from  Ken- 
tuck}',  Louisiana,  arid  other  places. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Biddle,  Mr.  Woodbury  said  that  the 
charges  against  Mr.  Mason  "  originated  exclusively  with 
his  political  friends."  This  statement  Mr.  Biddle  thought 
irreconcilable  with  that  of  the  same  person  in  his  letter  to 
Mr.  Ingham,  that  the  Bank  was  managed  "  with  a  view  to 
political  effect."  An  examination  was  instituted  ;  and  Mr. 
Biddle  went  to  New  Hampshire  for  that  purpose.  After  a 
thorough  investigation,  the  Board  found  that  the  accusa 
tions  were  groundless ;  that  the  most  zealous  of  Mr. 
Mason's  enemies  did  not  venture  to  assert  that  he  had 
ever,  on  any  occasion,  been  influenced  by  political  feelings  ; 
and  that  what  had  been  represented  as  public  opinion, 
was  nothing  more  than  the  personal  hostility  of  a  few 
individuals.  Mr.  Mason  was  therefore  immediately  re- 
elected. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  who  can  doubt,  that  it  was  the 
object  of  leading  Democrats  to  get  control  of  the  Bank, 
''with  a  view,"  either  "to  political  effect,"  or  to  their 
pecuniary  advantage  ;  and,  failing  in  this,  they  invoked 
the  aid  of  the  President,  whose  popularity  they  well 
knew  how  to  appreciate,  in  demolishing  an  institution 
which  they.  «^ld  not  make  subservient  to  their  selfish 
ends  ? 

The  defeat  of  the  Bank  bill  by  the  veto  of  the  President 
took  place  a  few  months  before  the  Presidential  election 
of  1832.  The  Bank  question^being  one  of  the  principal 
issues  between  the  parties,  thdfcveto  gave  increased  ac 
tivity  to  the  canvass.  Mr,  01  ^T the  candidate  of  the  Na 
tional  Republican  party,  was  ayfevoted  friend  of  the  Bank  ; 
and  a  large  portion  of  the  Democrats,  especially  in  Penn 
sylvania,  being  in  favor  of  its  recharter,  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Clay  hoped  the  veto  would  inure  materially  to  his 
advantage.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  Gen.  Jackson 


96  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

lost  not  a  single  electoral  vote  in  consequence  of  his  re- 
jection  of  the  Bank  bill.  He  received  of  the  electoral 
votes  219,  and  Mr.  Clay  49.  South  Carolina  gave  her  1 
votes  to  John  Floyd,  of  Va.  ;  and  the  7  votes  of  Vermont 
were  given  to  William  Wirt,  the  candidate  of  the  Anti- 
Masonic  party. 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION  97 


CHAPTER    III. 

Administration  of  Andrew  Jackson. — Second  Term. 

PRESIDENT  JACKSON  entered  upon  his  second  term  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1833.  Considering  his  reelection  as  a  de 
cision  of  the  people  against  the  Bank,  he  was  encouraged 
to  continue  his  hostility  to  the  institution.  Arid  the  next 
measure  to  be  executed  was  the  removal  of  the  public  moneys 
from  the  Bank  of  the  Untied  States.  Of  this  the  public  were 
apprised  by  his  last  annual  Message  (Dec.,  1832)  before 
his  second  Inauguration  ;  from  which  it  appeared  that 
"measures  had  already  been  taken  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  enable  him  to  judge  whether  the  public  de 
posits  in  this  institution  were  entirely  safe."  As  this  fact 
must  be  established  in  order  to  justify  their  removal,  and 
as  the  power  of  the  Secretary  might  prove  inadequate  to 
this  object,  the  President  recommended  the  subject  to  the 
attention  of  Congress.  An  inquiry  into  the  transactions  of 
the  Bank  and  its  branches,  he  said,  was  "  called  for  by  tho 
credit  which  was  given  throughout  the  country  to  many 
serious  charges  impeaching  its  character,  which,  if  true, 
might  justly  excite  the  apprehension,  that  it  was  no  longer 
a  safe  depository  of  the  money  of  the  people." 

The  measure  taken  by  Secretary  McLane  to  ascertain 
the  safety  of  the  deposits,  was  the  appointment  of  Henry 
Toland  to  make  the  investigation,  who  reported  to  the  Sec 
retary  the  4th  of  December,  the  day  of  the  date  of  the  Mes 
sage,  that  the  liabilities  of  the  Bank  amounted  to  $37,296, 
590  ;  and  the  fund  to  meet  them,  $79,593,870  ;  showing 
an  excess  of  $42,296,920.  As  all  liabilities  must  be  first 
paid  in  case  of  insolvency  or  dissolution,  he  considered  the 
security  of  the  public  money  unquestionable.  Nor  was 
there  any  doubt  of  the  solvency  of  the  Bank. 

In  the  House,  the  subject  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  who,  after  due  inquiry,  reported  that 
the  resources  of  the  Bank  were  upwards  of  $43,000,000 


98  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

beyond  its  liabilities.  The  report  concluded  with  a  reso 
lution,  "  That  the  Government  deposits  may,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  House,  be  safely  continued  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States."  The  resolution  was  adopted,  109  to  46. 

The  act  declared  that  the  deposits  should  be  made  in  the 
Bank  and  its  branches,  "  unless  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  should  at  any  time  otherwise  order  and  direct,  in 
which  case  he  should  immediately  lay  before  Congress,  if 
in  session,  and  if  not,  immediately  after  the  commencement 
of  the  next  session,  the  reason  of  such  order  and  direction." 
Disappointed  in  the  result  of  the  investigation,  he  deter 
mined  on  the  removal  of  the  deposits  without  the  reason 
that  they  were  unsafe,  and  appointed  Moses  Kendall  to  con 
fer  with  State  Banks  in  relation  to  future  deposits  and  dis 
tribution  of  the  public  revenue.  He  read  to  his  Cabinet 
(September  18,)  a  manifesto,  giving  reasons  for  removing 
the  deposits,  among  which  were  :  the  Bank  was  of  a  dan 
gerous  tendency  ;  it  had  paid  for  printing  and  circulating 
articles  to  influence  public  sentiment ;  he  desired  to 
evince  his  gratitude  to  the  people  by  carrying  their  decision 
into  effect  ;  they  having,  by  electing  him,  decided  against 
the  recharteriug  of  the  Bank,  &c.,  &c. 

William  J.  Duane,  was  now  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
having  been  appointed  in  May,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  McLano, 
who  had  been  transferred  to  the  head  of  the  State  Depart 
ment  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Livingston,  appointed  Minister  to 
France.  Mr.  Duane  was  directed  to  remove  the  deposits  ; 
but  he  declined  to  obey  the  direction.  lie  assigned  as  rea 
sons  for  refusing  to  carry  the  direction  into  effect,  that  the 
change,  without  necessity,  was  a  breach  of  faith  ;  that  the 
measure  appeared  vindictive  and  arbitrary  ;  that,  if  the 
Bank  had  abused  its  powers,  the  Judiciary,  and,  in  the  last 
resort,  the  Representatives  of  the  people  were  able  and 
willing  to  punish  ;  that  the  latter  had  pronounced  the  de 
posits  safe  ;  that  it  was  hazardous  to  place  them  in  the 
local  banks,  which  were  not,  on  an  average,  able  to  pay  in 
specie  o;ie  dollar  in  six  of  their  paper  in  circulation  ;  that 
it  would  place  in  the  hands  of  a  Secretary,  dependent  for 
office  on  the  Executive  will,  a  power  to  favor  or  punish 
those  banks,  and  make  them  political  machines  ;  that  he 
believed  the  efforts  to  hasten  the  removal  of  the  deposits 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  90 

had  originated  in  schemes  to  promote  selfish  and  factious 
purposes  :  and  that  persons  and  presses  in  the  confidence 
and  pay  of  the  administration,  had  attempted  to  intimidate 
and  constrain  the  Secretary  to  execute  an  act  in  direct  op 
position  to  his  own  solemn  convictions. 

This  long  list  of  reasons,  all  of  them  of  more  or  less 
weight,  one  would  suppose,  would  have  deterred  the  Presi 
dent  from  the  execution  of  his  arbitrary  purpose.  But  the 
Secretary's  refusal  was  followed  by  his  removal,  and  the 
appointment  of  Roger  B.  Taney,  then  Attorncy-Ge  oral,  in 
his  place.  Mr.  Taney  immediately  directed  the  removal  of 
the  deposits  to  the  State  Banks  selected  as  the  fiscal  agents 
of  the  Government.  This  act  caused  great  excitement,  and 
was  condemned  by  many  of  the  President's  political  friends, 
in  all  parts  ot  the  country.  Persons  and  presses  that  had 
been  among  his  most  zealous  supporters,  expressed  their 
decided  disapproval  of  this  arbitrary  exercise  of  power  ;  and 
not  a  few  withdrew  from  him  their  support. 

A  Committee  appointed  by  the  Directors  of  the  Bank, 
made  a  long  and  elaborate  report,  designed  as  a  full  vindi* 
cation  of  the  course  of  the  Directors,  and  as  a  refutation  of 
the  charges  brought  against  it.  They  alluded  to  the  efforts 
made  in  the  summer  of  18*29  to  remove  Mr.  Mason  and  the 
public  funds  from  the  branch  at  Portsmouth  in  order  to 
satisfy  Isaac  Hill,  who  requested  a  change  because  "the 
friends  of  Gen.  Jackson  had  but  too  much  reason  to  com 
plain  of  the  management  of  the  branch  at  Portsmou  h," 
manifesting  thus  early  "  a  combined  effort  to  render  t'ie  in 
stitution  subservient  to  party  purposes."  Hence  it  became 
necessary  to  come  to  some  immediate  and  distinct  under 
standing  of  its  rights  and  duties.  They  also  gave  extracts 
from  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Biddle  and  the  Trea 
sury  Department,  (alluded  to  in  preceding  pages,)  which, 
they  said,  '*  icvealed  the  whole  secret  of  the  hostility  to  the 
Bank  of  those  who,  finding  it  impossible  to  bend  it  to  their 
purposes,  had  resolved  to  break  it."  The  Bank  hud  been 
charged  with  paying,  from  the  funds  deposited,  for  publi 
cations  containing  "invectives  against  the  officer?  of  the 
Government/' and  designed  "to  operate  on  elections  and 
secure  a  renewal  of  its  charter."  In  reply  the  report  says, 
that  the  power  actually  given  to  the  President  of  the  B  ink 


100  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

to  expend  its  funds,  which  he  had  exercised,  and  which 
would  continue  to  be  exercised,  was  for  the  defense  of  tho 
Bank  against  the  calumnies  with  which,  for  four  years,  the 
institution  had  been  pursued. 

In  the  change  which  was  made  in  depositing  the  public 
funds,  no  money  was  transferred  from  the  Bank  to  tho 
State  banks.  Future  deposits  were  made  in  the  latter  ; 
and  the  money  was  drawn  from  the  former  only  as  it  was 
•wanted  by  the  Government.  The  change  took  place  the 
1st  of  October,  1833.  The  spite  of  the  official  enemies  of  the 
Bank  was  now  exhibited  in  an  attempt  to  "  break"  it  by 
unexpected  and  sudden  drafts.  Mr.  Kendall,  the  Govern 
ment  agent,  in  a  letter  to  a  New  York  editor,  a  few  days 
after  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  spoke  of  the  effects  of  a 
sudden  withdrawal  of  the  public  moneys,  (then  nearly  ten 
millions,)  from  the  Bank,  and  added  :  "  Yes,sir,  tliis  boast 
ing  giant  is  but  a  reptile  beneath  the  feet  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  which  he  can  crush  at  will.  It  exists  by 
his  forbearance,  and  will,  for  the  next  forty  days  ;  and 
great  forbearance  will  it  require  to  save  it  from 
destruction." 

Accordingly,  a  few  weeks  after  the  utterance  of  this 
threat,  the  Bank  Avas  surprised  by  the  presentation  of  a 
number  of  large  drafts  :  one  of  $100r060  at  the  branch  in 
Baltimore  ;  two  others,  one  of  $100,000,  and  another  of 
$500,000,  at  the  Bank  in  Philadelphia  ;  and  three  others,  of 
$500,000  each,  had  been  drawn  upon  the  branch  in  New 
York.  These  drafts  were  all  in  favor  of  the  State  Banks  in 
these  places  selected  to  receive  the  deposits.  It  had  been 
the  practice  of  the  Treasury  to  transmit  to  the  Bank  a 
weekly  statement  of  drafts  to  be  made  upon  it ;  but  these 
large  sums  were  drawn  for  without  the  usual  previous 
notice. 

The  effects  of  this  unprincipled  war  upon  the  Bank — tho 
rapid  withdrawal  of  the  deposits,  and  the  known  attempt 
to  "  crush"  the  institution — compelled,  as  a  measure  of 
safety,  a  curtailment  of  its  loans  ;  and  a  severe  money  pres 
sure  BOOU  followed.  Bills  of  State  Banks  depreciated  in  value 
on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  money  ;  and  these  banks  too 
were  compelled  to  reduce  their  discounts.  Public  meet 
ings  were  held,  and  memorials  to  Congress  were  prepared, 


,    -  m 

JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  101 

praying  for  the  return  of  the  deposits  to  the  Bank.  The 
price  of  public  stocks  declined  from  10  to  30  per  cent.  ;  in 
terest  rose  to  ruinous  rates  ;  laborers  were  discharged  ; 
and  the  price  of  real  estate  greatly  declined.  All  this  the 
opponents  of  the  Bank  attributed  to  the  panic  produced  by 
the  Bank  and  its  friends  for  political  purposes,  or  with  a 
view  to  the  renewal  of  its  charter. 

The  intensity  of  the  excitement  increased.  Meetings 
were  called  irrespective  of  party,  and  the  removal  of  the 
deposits  unanimosuly  condemned.  The  Legislatures  of 
several  States  did  the  same.  The  House  of  Delegates  of 
Virginia  pronounced  the  removal  of  the  federal  revenue 
from  the  Bank,  where  Congress  had  required  it  to  be  de 
posited,  "an  unauthorized  assumption  and  dangerous  exer 
cise  of  Executive  power."  The  Legislatures  of  some  States, 
however,  approved  the  course  of  the  President. 

The  hew  Congress  met  in  December,  1833.  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  his  friends  now  acting  with  the  opposition,  the  admin 
istration  party  in  the  Senate  was  in  the  minority.  The 
subject  of  the  deposits  occupied  much  of  the  time  of  this 
session.  Memorials  and  remonstrances  were  received  ; 
and  the  question  of  the  return  of  the  deposits,  and  the 
course  of  the  Bank,  were  long  the  subjects  of  debate. 

In  the  Senate,  two  resolutions  were  offered  by  Mr.  Clay : 
the  first  declaring,  that  in  the  proceedings  of  the  President 
in  relation  to  the  public  revenue,  he  had  assume-d  power 
not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  ;  the  second, 
that  the  reason  assigned  by  the  Secretary  for  the  removal 
of  the  deposits  were  unsatisfactory  and  insufficient.  The 
first  was  adopted,  26  to  20 ;  the  second,  28  to  18.  The 
President  soon  after  sent  to  the  Senate  a  Message,  protesting 
against  this  act  of  the  Senate,  as  being,  in  substance,  an 
impeachment  of  him  contrary  to  the  form  prescribed  by  the 
Constitution,  and  requesting  that  the  Message  and  protest 
be  entered  on  the  journals  of  the  Senate  ;  but  the  Senate 
refused  to  receive  the  paper. 

Several  reports  and  counter-reports,  in  relation  to  the 
bank  and  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  were  made  during  this 
session  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  give  them  place.  Although 
not  devoid  of  interest,  they  do  not  essentially  affect  the 
general  aspect  of  the  question. 


4 

102  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Mr.  Benton,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  Mr.  Clay's  re 
solution,  (March,  1834,)  pronouncing  the  President's  pro 
ceedings  in  relation  to  the  deposits  to  be  in  derogation  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws,  gave  notice  that  he  would  from 
time  to  time  move  that  the  resolution  be  expunged.  He 
accordingly  made  such  motion  at  the  next  session,  (1834- 
1835.)  But  after  some  discussion,  it  was  laid  upon  the 
table,  27  to  20.  Unfaltering  in  his  purpose,  he  repeated  tho 
motion  at  each  successive  session  until  1837,  when  he  was 
successful.  The  motion  was  opposed  by  Messrs.  Calhoun, 
Webster,  and  Clay.  The  two  first  named  Senators  main 
tained,  that,  as  the  Constitution  requires  the  Senate  to  keep 
a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  the  expunging  of  any  part  of 
it,  would  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  "  A  record  ex 
punged"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "  is  not  a  record  which  is  kept, 
any  more  than  a  record  destroyed  is  a  record  which  is  pre 
served.  The  part  expunged  is  no  longer  a  part  of  the  re 
cord  ;  it  has  no  longer  a  legal  existence.  It  can  not  be 
certified  as  a  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  for  any 
proof  or  evidence."  He  protested  that  they  had  no  right 
to  deprive  him  of  the  personal  constitutional  right  of  hav 
ing  his  yea  and  nay  recorded  and  preserved  on  the  journal. 
They  might  as  well  erase  the  yeas  and  nays  on  all  other 
questions  as  on  this.  Some  Senators  had  been  instructed 
by  their  State  Legislatures  to  vote  for  expunging.  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  Mr.  Webster  both  believed  these  instructions 
had  been  obtained  "  by  dictation  from  the  White  House  ;'; 
that  they  had  their  origin  in  promptings  from  Washington  ; 
and  had  been  brought  about  by  the  influence  of  the  Execu 
tive  branch  of  this  Government."  The  vote  was  taken  near 
midnight  :  Yeas,  24  ;  Nays,  19  ;  absent,  4.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Senate  then  drew  a  square  of  broad  black  lines 
around  the  resolution  of  the  28th  of  March,  1834,  and  wrote 
across  it,  "  Expunged  by  order  of  the  Senate,  this  16th  day 
ofjJariuary,  1837." 

"We  now  come  to  a  subject  which  has  been  productive  of 
a  more  intense  excitement,  a  more  protracted  and  bitter 
controversy,  and  which  has  more  deeply  affected  the  inter 
ests  of  the  nation,  than  any  other  political  question 
that  has  ever  divided  the  American  people — the  question 
of  SLAVERY. 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  103 

In  1833  was  formed  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
Its  object  was,  by  fair  and  candid  discussion,  to  produce  a 
strong  and  general  anti-slavery  sentiment  at  the  North,  the 
moral  influence  of  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  be  felt  at 
the  South  ;  and  to  convince  slaveholders  that  Slavery  was 
a  moral  and  political  evil,  and  that  both  duty  and  the  mu 
tual  interests  of  the  slave  and  the  master  required  its  im 
mediate  abolition.  Neither  the  parent  Society  nor  any  of 
its  auxiliaries  originally,  or  for  several  years  afterwards, 
contemplated  or  suggested  a  political  organization  to  pro 
mote  the  object  of  these  associations. 

Anti-Slavery  Societies  were  soon  formed  throughout  the 
Northern  States.  The  South  became  alarmed.  Attempts 
were  made  to  suppress  anti-slavery  societies  and  their  pub 
lications.  The  "  Emancipator,"  published  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  was  indicted  by  a  grand  jury  in  Alabama  ;  and 
a  requisition  by  Gov.  Gayle  was  made  upon  Gov.  Marcy  of 
the  Slate  of  New  York  for  the  surrender  of  the  publisher, 
R.  J.  Williams,  as  a  "fugitive  from  justice,"  to  be  tried  as 
an  offender  against  the  laws  of  Alabama  concerning 
Slavery.  The  requisition  was,  of  course,  disregarded.  In 
Louisiana  a  reward  of  $50,000  was  offered  for  the  delivery 
of  Arthur  Tappan,  a  prominent,  abolitionist  in  the  city  of 
New  York  ;  and  rewards  were  offered  for  several  other 
persons.  And  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi  offered  a  re 
ward  of  $5,000  for  any  person  who  should  be  convicted  of 
having  circulated  the  "  Liberator'  or  any  other  seditious 
paper  within  that  State.  Public  meetings  were  held,  at 
which  Abolitionists  were  denounced  ;  and  fears  were  ex 
pressed  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

The  South  had  then,  as  it  has  had  ever  since,  hosts  of 
hympathizers  in  the  North,  who  promptly  responded  to  the 
sentiments  expressed  in  Southern  meetings.  In  many  of 
the  principal  Northern  cities,  meetings  were  held  which 
were  attended  by  the  most  prominent  citizens.  The  strong 
est  sympathy  was  expressed  for  the  slaveholders,  and  the 
Abolitionists  were  stigmatized  as  "  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace,"  and  as  "  disloyal  to  the  Union."  Southern  papers 
expressed  great  satisfaction  at  this  declaration  of  Northern 
sentiment.  They  "  hailed  this  plighted  faith  to  arrest,  '  by 
all  constitutional  and  legal  means,  the  movements  of  these 


104  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

incendiaries,"  and  hoped  the  pledge  would  be  redeemed  by 
legislative  enactments,  without  which  all  else  would  be 
little  more  than  "a  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal." 
"  Up  to  the  mark  the  North  must  come,  if  it  would  restore 
tranquillity  and  preserve  the  Union."  Another  complained 
that  the  Albany  meeting  did  not  "  recommend  putting 
down,  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  discussions  which  [it 
declared]  were  at  war  with  every  moral  duty  and  every 
suggestion  of  humanity."  Surely,  that  which  is  declared 
so  pernicious  can  and  ought  to  be  made  legally  punishable. 
It  is  works  and  not  words  we  want.  A  meeting  in  South 
Carolina  declared,  tho.t  if  the  South  should  have  "  to  choose 
either  union  without  liberty,  or  disunion  with  liberty  and 
property,  be  assured  they  will  not  hesitate  which  to  take, 
and  will  make  the  choice  promptly,  unitedly,  and  fear 
lessly."  And  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  "should 
the  non-slaveholding  States  omit  or  refuse,  at  the  ensuing 
meeting  of  their  respective  Legislatures,  to  put  a  final  stop 
to  the  proceedings  of  their  Abolition  Societies,  by  efficient 
penal  laws,  it  will  then  become  the  solemn  duty  of  the  whole 
South,  in  order  to  protect  themselves  arid  secure  their  rights 
and  property  against  the  unconstitutional  combination  of 
the  non-slaveholding  States,  and  the  murderous  designs  of 
their  Abolitionists,  to  withdraw  from  the  Union." 

It  was  proposed  "  to  withhold  the  profits  of  Southern  com 
merce  from  those  engaged,  either  actively,  or  by  coun 
tenance,  in  propagating  the  designs  of  fanaticism." 
"  Through  the  purse  is  the  surest  road  to  the  understand 
ings  of  men." 

The  aid  of  the  General  Government  was  invoked  in  the 
war  against  free  speech  and  a  free  press.  The  Postmaster- 
General  was  requested  to  prevent  the  transmission  by 
mail,  of  Anti-Slavery  papers  and  documents.  Mr.  Ken 
dall,  in  answer,  said  "  it  was  not  in  his  power,  by  any  law 
ful  regulation,  to  obviate  the  evil."  But  regarding  the 
transmission  of  papers  "  tending  to  promote  discontent, 
sedition,  and  a  servile  war,  from  one  state  to  another,  as  a 
violation  of  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  federal  com 
pact,  which  would  justify,  on  the  part  of  the  injured  States, 
any  measure  necessary  to  effect  their  exclusion,"  he  sug 
gested  that  their  only  means  of  relief  at  present  was  "  in 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  105 

responsibilities  voluntarily  assumed  by  postmasters."  Ho 
hoped  Congress  would,  at  the  next  session,  put  a  stop  to 
the  evil,  and  pledged  his  exertions  to  promote  the  adoption 
of  a  measure  for  that  purpose. 

The  reader  will  be  naturally  disposed  to' inquire  whether 
the  President  concurred  in  the  suggestions  and  advice  of 
his  Postmaster-General.  He  was  indeed  noted  for  "  taking 
responsibilities  ;"  but  that  the  head  of  a  party  professing 
the  strongest  repugnance  to  "loose  construction,"  who,  in 
accordance  with  his  rule  of  "  strict  construction,"  had  ve 
toed  measures  similar  to  those  sanctioned  by  his  early  pre 
decessors,  should  justify  or  connive  at  so  palpable  "  a 
violation"  not  only  "  of  the  spirit"  but  of  "  the  letter"  of  the 
Constitution,  would  be  incredible,  had  we  not  good  evi 
dence  of  the  fact.  In  his  next  annual  Message,  December, 
1835,  he  said  :  "  I  must  also  invite  your  attention  to  the 
painful  excitement  produced  in  the  South  by  attempts  to 
circulate,  through  the  mails,  inflammatory  appeals  ad 
dressed  to  the  passions  of  the  slaves,  in  prints  and  in 
various  sorts  of  publications,  calculated  to  stimulate  them 
to  insurrection,  and  to  produce  all  the  horrors  of  a  servile 
war."  And  he  suggested  the  passage  of  a  law  to  "  pro 
hibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation,  in  the  South 
ern  States,  through  the  mail,  of  incendiary  publications, 
intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insurrection." 

If  the  President,  in  the  extracts  above  quoted,  meant  to 
convey  the  ideas  which  the  language  seems  clearly  to  ex 
press,  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  more  to  be  con 
demned,  the  untruthful  ness  of  the  one,  or  the  recommenda 
tion  contained  in  the  other.  That  "  inflammatory  appeals" 
had  been  addressed  to  slaves,  or  that  any  attempts  had 
been  made  to  get  any  Anti-Slavery  publications,  whatever, 
into  their  hands,  he  had  no  good  reason  to  believe.  Nothing 
of  an  "  incendiary"  character  had  then,  nor  has  since, 
emanated  from  the  Anti-Slavery  press  ;  and  it  is  quite  cer 
tain  that  a  paper  of  any  kind  could  not  reach  slaves 
"  through  the  mails."  By  the  "  incendiary  publications" 
the  prohibition  of  which  lie  recommended,  ho  evidently 
meant  the  ordinary  Anti-Slavery  papers  and  documents, 
such  as  his  Postmaster-General  suggested  the  suppression 
of  by  his  deputy  postmasters  in  the  Southern  Slates,  in 


106  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  Southern  States,  on  "responsibilities  voluntarily  as 
sumed."  A  more  flagrant  violation  of  the  constitutional 
right  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  can  hardly  be 
imagined  than  was  proposed  in  the  bill  introduced  in  the 
Senate  in  pursuance  of  the  recommendation.  There  are 
doubtless  many  of  his  admirers  of  that  day  still  living,  who 
regarded  with  favor  the  provisions  of  that  bill,  who  are  now 
horror-stricken  by  the  summary  suppression  of  papers 
which  are  endeavoring  to  cripple  the  Government  in  its 
efforts  to  quell  the  Rebellion. 

The  bill  alluded  to  was  reported  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  Chair 
man  of  a  Select  Committee,  to  whom  this  part  of  the  Mes 
sage  had  been  referred.  It  prohibited  postmasters  from 
knowingly  putting  into  the  mail  any  printed  or  written 
paper  or  pictorial  representation  relating  to  Slavery,  ad 
dressed  to  any  person  in  a  State  in  which  their  circulation 
was  forbidden  ;  and  it  prohibited  postmasters  in  such  State 
from  delivering  such  papers  to  any  person  not  authorized 
by  the  laws  of  the  State  to  receive  them.  And  the  post 
masters  of  the  offices  where  such  papers  were  deposited, 
were  required  to  give  notice  of  the  same,  from  time  to 
time  ;  and  if  the  papers  were  not,  within  one  month,  with 
drawn  by  the  person  depositing  them,  they  were  to  be  burnt 
or  otherwise  destroyed. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  in  his  report,  reiterated  h's  long-cherished 
doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty.  He  claimed  for  a  State  the 
right  to  defend  itself  against  internal  dangers,  and  denied 
the  right  of  the  General  Government  to  assisc  a  State,  even 
in  cuse  of  domestic  violence,  except  on  application  of  the 
authorities  of  the  State  itself.  It  belonged  to  the  States 
whose  institutions  were  in  danger,  and  not  to  Congress,  as 
the  Message  supposed,  to  determine  what  papers  were  in 
cendiary  ;  and  each  State  was  bound  to  prevent  its  citizens 
from  disturbing  the  peace  or  endangering  the  security  of 
other  States  ;  and  the  latter,  if  disturbed  or  endangered, 
had  a  light  to  demand  of  the  former  the  adoption  of  meas 
ures  for  their  protection.  And  if  it  should  neglect  its  duty, 
the  States  whose  peace  was  assailed  might  resort  to  means 
to  protect  themselves,  as  if  they  were  separate  and  inde 
pendent  communities. 

Here    we    have   a    sample    of   the    seed    sown    thirty 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  107 

years  ago,  the  bitter  fruits  of  which  we  are  now 
reaping. 

When  the  question  was  taken  on  the  engrossment  of  the 
bill,  there  was  a  tie,  18  to  18.  The  Vice-President,  (Mr. 
Van  Buren,)  having  temporarily  left  the  chair,  returned, 
and  gave  the  casting  vote  in  the  affirmative.  Of  the  Sena 
tors  from  the  Free  States,  Messrs.  Buchanan,  Tallmadge, 
and  Wright,  voted  in  the  affirmative.  Those  from  Slave 
States  who  voted  in  the  negative,  were  Messrs.  Benton, 
Clay,  arid  Kent,  of  Maryland. 

It  is  but  just  to  say,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren's  casting  vote, 
and  the  several  votes  of  Mr.  Wright,  are  not  conclusive 
evidence  of  their  having  desired  the  passage  of  the  bill. 
Mr.  Calhouri,  as  Mr.  Benton  says,  "  had  made  the  rejection 
of  the  bill  a  test  of  alliance  with  Northern  Abolitionists, 
and  a  cause  for  a  secession  of  the  Southern  States  ;  and  if 
the  bill  had  been  rejected  by  Mr.  Van  Bureri's  vote,  the 
whole  responsibility  of  its  loss  would  have  been  thrown 
upon  him  and  the  North,  and  the  South  inflamed  against' 
those  States  and  himself— the  more  so,  as  Mr.  White,  of 
Tennessee,  the  opposing  Democratic  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  gave  his  votes  for  the  bill.  [Mr.  White  was 
supported  by  a  branch  of  the  party  opposed  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  the  regular  nominee.]  The  several  successive  tie 
votes  have  been  ascribed  to  the  intention  of  placing  Mr. 
Van  Buren  in  this  position.  With  this  intent,  some  voted 
for  the  bill,  and  others  absented  themselves,  knowing  that 
on  the  final  vote  it  would  not  pass.  This  supposition  ap 
pears  probable  from  the  full  vote  given  on  the  question  of 
its  passage  :  ayes,  19  ;  noes,  25  ;  only  four  absent  ;  Mr. 
Buchanan,  Mr.  Tallmadge,  and  Mr.  Wright,  again  voting 
in  the  affirmative  ;  and  seven  from  the  Slave  States,  in  the 
negative.  The  votes  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  others,  though 
given  for  the  reason  stated,  cannot  be  justified  upon  that 
ground. 

Although  this  bill  received  but  little  support  from  North 
ern  Senators,  there  was  at  this  time  a  strong  tendency  to 
ward  a  union  of  the  interests  of  the  Democracy  and  those 
of  Slavery.  This  union  was  soon  after  consummated. 
There  were  for  many  years  exhibitions  of  considerable 
strength  in  the  Southern  portion  of  the  Whig  party  ;  but 


108  DEMOCRATIC  MIRROR. 

•where  Whig  measures  came  into  conflict  with  the  interests 
of  Slavery,  the  latter  were,  with  many  of  the  Southern 
Whigs,  the  controlling  consideration.  This  gave  the  De 
mocrats  an  advantage  which  has  contributed  largely  to 
the  predominance  which  they  have,  for  most  of  the  time, 
since  maintained. 

Petitions  for  the  abolition  of  Slavery  and  the  Slave  Trade 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  continued  to  be  presented  to 
Congress  ;  and  the  excitement  was  increased  by  the  man 
ner  in  which  they  were  treated.  On  the  Sth  of  February, 
1836,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  to  refer  all  petitions  on  this 
subject  to  a  select  Committee.  On  the  18th  of  May,  Mr. 
Pinckney,  from  this  Committee,  reported  three  resolutions  ; 
the  first  denying  the  power  of  Congress  over  Slavery  in  the 
States  ;  the  second  declaring  that  Congress  ought  not  to 
interfere  with  it  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  the  third  re 
quiring  all  petitions  and  papers  relating  to  the  subject  to 
be  at  once  laid  upon  the  table,  without  being  printed  or 
referred,  and  without  any  further  action  upon  them.  On 
the  25th  of  May,  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  first  resolution 
under  the  pressure  of  the  previous  question.  Mr.  Adams 
said,  if  the  House  would  allow  him  five  minutes,  lie  would 
prove  the  resolution  to  be  false.  The  resolution  was  adopted, 
with  only  eight  dissenting  voices.  The  next  day  the 
second  was  adopted,  132  to  45  ;  the  third,  117  to  G8. 

In  the  Senate,  a  petition  from  the  Society  of  the  "  Friends" 
in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  at  tho  Cain  quarterly  meeting, 
was  presented  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  who  said  he  was  in  favor 
of  giving  the  memorial  a  respectful  reception  ;  but  he 
wished  to  put  the  question  at  rest.  He  therefore  moved 
that  the  petition  be  read,  and  rejected.  The  question  on 
receiving  was  decided  in  the  affirmative,  36  to  10  ;  the  lat 
ter  votes  all  from  Southern  Senators.  The  whole  subject, 
including  the  rejection  of  the  petition,  was  agreed  to  34  to 
G.  The  noes  were  from  Davis  and  Webster,  of  Mass., 
Prentiss,  of  Vt.,  Knight,  of  R.  I.,  and  Southard,  of  N.  J. 

Mr.  Calhoun  had  objected  to  the  reception  of  this  and  all 
such  communications,  and  considered  it  the  duty  of  Congress 
to  refuse  a  hearing  to  all  petitions  relating  to  negro 
Slavery.  He  again  held  up  the  terror  of  secession  to  a\vc 
the  Senate  into  respect  for  the  wishes  of  the  South. 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  109 

Mr.  Bcnton  wished  the  adoption  of  the  most  effectual 
method  of  putting  down  Abolition  Societies.  It  was  time 
that  the  practice  of  sending  such  petitions  to  Congress  was 
discontinued  and  the  South  quieted.  But  to  quiet  the 
South,  the  North  must  be  quieted.  The  South  would  not 
be  at  ease  until  Abolitionism  was  put  down  in  the  North  ; 
and  Senators  from  the  non-slaveholding  States  should  lead 
in  the  matter. 

^  Other  Senators  participated  in  the  debate,  in  which  the 
right  of  petition,  and  the  power  of  Congress  over  Slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories  were 
thoroughly  discussed. 

Among  the  notable  occurrences  during  President  Jack 
son's  administration,  was  a  generul  derangement  of  the  cur 
rency  The  Bank  war  was  riot  confined  in  its  objects  to  the 
destruction  of  that  institution.  The  President's  hatred  to 
paper  money  was  scarcely  less  than  his  hatred  to  the 
"  monster"  Bank.  We  have  briefly  noticed  the  effect  upon 
the  currency  of  the  contraction  of  the  Bank's  circulation, 
caused  by  his  attempts  to  "  crush  the  reptile."  The  Bank 
had  satisfactorily  performed  the  offices  contemplated  by  its 
authors,  (Mr.  Madison  and  the  Republican  Congress  of 
1816,)  one  of  which  offices  was  that  of  a  "  regulator"  of  the 
currency.  A  United  States  Bank  note,  though  payable  only 
at  the  Bank  or  branch  whence  it  was  issued,  was  current 
in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  and  was  generally  re 
garded  as  equivalent  to  specie.  Hence,  the  most  careful 
and  prudent  winding  up  of  its  affairs  must,  to  some  extent, 
have  produced  an  unfavorable  effect  upon  the  currency.  It 
had  also  held^a  salutary  check  upon  the  State  Banks,  which 
was  about  to  cease. 

It  was  resolved  to  substitute  for  the  "  bank  rags"  now 
used  as  a  circulating  medium,  the  "hard  money."  The  re 
ceipt,  by  Government  officers,  of  bank  notes  of  a  denomina 
tion  less  than  five  dollars,  had  been  prohibited  after  the 
30th  of  September,  1835.  And  an  order  was  issued  from 
the  Treasury  Department,  dated  22d  February,  1836.  for 
bidding  their  payment  to  any  public  officer  or  creditor  ;  and, 
unless  otherwise  prescribed  by  law,  no  such  notes  of  a  de 
nomination  less  than  ten  dollars  were  to  be  received  or 
paid  after  the  4th  of  July  next.  And  the  Deposit  Banks 


110  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

were  required,  in  payments  not  exceeding1  $500,  to  pay  one- 
fifth  in  gold  coin,  if  preferred  by  the  creditor.  They  were 
requested  not  to  issue,  after  the  4th  of  July,  notes  less  than 
five  dollars,  nor  after  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  notes  less 
than  ten  dollars.  The  alledgcd  object  of  this  regulation 
was,  "  to  render  the  currency  of  the  country  more  safe, 
sou  rid,  and  uniform." 

On  the  llth  of  July,  1836,  was  issued  another  order, 
thereafter  generally  designated  the  "  specie  circular,'1 
which  produced  great  sensation.  In  anticipation  of  the 
"  winding  up"  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  notwith 
standing  the  efforts  of  the  Government  to  check  the  issue 
of  paper  money,  an  immense  increase  of  the  number  of 
State  Banks  took  place.  For  the  thirty-five  millions  of 
bank  capital  withdrawn  from  use  by  the  expiration  of  the 
National  Bank,  many  times  that  amount  of  State  bank 
capital  was  created.  And  it  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the 
greatest  increase  was  in  Democratic  States,  where  the  poli 
ticians  echoed  most  loudly  the  President's  denunciations  of 
paper  money.  The  facility  of  obtaining  bank  accommoda 
tions  had  encouraged  speculations  to  an  unprecedented 
extent,  especially  in  landed  property.  The  receipts  from 
sales  of  public  lands,  were,  in  1834,  $4,857,000  ;  in  1830, 
they  had  risen  to  $24,877,179.  This  order  was  designed 
to  prevent  a  monopoly  of  the  lands  by  speculators,  and  to 
check  the  accumulation  of  this  doubtful  paper  monej7  into 
the  Treasury.  In  cases  of  sales,  except  to  actual  settlers, 
or  residents  of  the  State,  and  in  quantities  not  exceeding 
320  acres,  payment  for  lands  sold  after  the  15th  of  August, 
was  to  be  made  in  specie  ;  and  after  the  15th  of  December, 
in  gold  and  silver,  without  exception.  Tin's  order  was 
issued  under  an  existing  law,  which  authorize!  the  Secre 
tary  to  receive  or  reject  bank  paper  at  his  discretion. 
This  circular  was  issued  only  one  week  after  the  adjourn 
ment  of  Congress.  It  had  been  withheld,  as  Mr.  Ben  ton 
says,  to  avoid  any  interference  of  Congress,  a  majority  of 
both  Houses  being  known  to  be  opposed  to  the  measure.  A 
majority  of  the  Cabinet  also  were  opposed  to  it. 

A  general  revulsion  soon  followed  the  issuing  of  this 
Treasury  circular.  And  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  a 
joint  resolution  was  early  introduced  by  Mr.  Ewing  "  to 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  Ill 

rescind  the  Treasury  order  of  July  llth,  1 836."  In  the  de 
bate  on  this  resolution,  the  causes  of  the  pecuniary  distress 
and  the  objects  of  the  order  were  discussed.  One  object, 
Mr.  E.  said,  was  to  save  the  Deposit  Banks  from  failure, 
by  collecting  specie  in  the  land-offices  to  be  distributed 
among  these  banks  to  enable  them  to  pay  over  the  money 
to  the  States. 

Mr.  Benton  charged  the  '"  panic"  to  the  Bank  and  its 
friends,  who  wished  to  get  a  renewal  of  its  charter  as  a 
remedy  for  the  evils  they  had  themselves  created.  He  said 
there  was  no  safety  for  the  federal  revenue  but  in  the  total 
exclusion  of  local  paper  from  every  branch  of  the  revenue- 
customs,  lands,  and  post-office. 

Mr.  Oittenden  said  the  operation  of  the  order  had  been 
to  derange  the  currency,  and  give  it  a  direction  inverse  to 
the  course  of  business.  Our  great  commercial  cities  were 
the  natural  repositories  where  money  centered  and  settled. 
It  was  more  valuable  there  than  in  the  interior.  Any  in 
telligent  business  man  in  the  West  would  rather  have 
money  paid  him  in  New  York  than  at  his  own  door.  Hence, 
forcing  the  specie  against  the  natural  course  of  business 
from  East  to  West,  was  beneficial  to  none,  injurious  to  all. 
He  admitted  that  the  Deposit  Banks  had  been  strengthened 
by  the  order,  as  had  been  asserted  by  Mr.  Benton  ;  but  it 
was  at  the  expense  of  all  other  banks  in  the  country. 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Public 
Lands,  who  reported  a,  bill  providing  that  the  Government 
should  receive  the  paper  of  specie  paying  banks,  which 
should  thereafter  issue  no  notes  of  small  denominations. 
But  the  bill  was  so  amended  as  merely  to  rescind  the  Trea 
sury  order,  and  was  so  passed,  41  to  5.  In  the  House  it 
was  ordered  to  a  third  reading  by  a' vote  of  143  to  59,  and 
passed  by  a  large  majority.  It  was  sent  to  the  President, 
who  returned  it  to  the  Senate  with  his  VETO. 

In  June,  1836,  Michigan  and  Arkansas  were  admitted 
into  the  Union.  The  people  of  both  Territories  had  taken 
measures  preparatory  to  admission  as  States,  without  pre 
vious  action  of  Congress  ;  and  copies  of  their  Constitutions 
accompanied  their  application  for  admission.  In  the  case 
of  Arkansas,  whose  application  was  first  made,  the  Attorney 
General,  Mr.  Butler,  to  whom  the  question  had  been  sub- 


112  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

mitted,  gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  measures  to  subvert 
the  Territorial  Government,  and  to  establish  a  new  one 
without  the  consent  of  Congress,  would  be  unlawful.  This 
opinion,  however,  was  disregarded  by  majorities  in  both 
Houses.  In  the  Senate,  the  vote  on  the  admission  of  Mich 
igan  was  23  to  8,  many  of  the  Senators  having  left  their 
seats.  The  vote  previously  given  on  a  motion  to  recom 
mit  the  bill,  was  considered  as  nearly  a  test  vote  on  the 
admission,  which  was  28  to  19.  Two  days  after,  (April  4,) 
the  Arkansas  bill  passed  the  Senate,  31  to  G.  The  two 
Senators  from  Vermont,  Swift  and  Prentiss,  objected  be 
cause  the  State  Constitution  permitted  Slavery,  and  pro 
hibited  its  abolition  by  the  State  Legislature. 

In  the  House  also  objections  were  made  for  the  same 
reason.  Mr.  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  condemned  the 
clause  prohibiting  emancipation  without  the  consent  of  the 
owners  of  the  slaves,  "  as  anti-republican,  as  wrong  on 
general  principles  of  civil  polity,  and  as  unjust  to  the  in 
habitants  of  the  non-slaveholding  States."  The  Legislature 
could  not  emancipate,  even  if  it  should  be  ready  to  indem 
nify  the  owners.  It  was  "to  foreclose,  in  advance,  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  of  liberty  forever."  He  con 
cluded  with  a  severe  reply  to  a  threat  of  Mr.  Wise,  that,  if, 
contrary  to  the  terms  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the 
North  should  impose  restrictions  upon  slave  property  at  the 
South,  the  latter  would  be  impelled  "  to  introduce  Slavery 
into  the  heart  of  the  North." 

Mr.  Adams  was  content  to  receive  Arkansas  as  one  of 
the  slaveholding  States  ;  but  he  was  unwilling  that  Con- 
grces  should  assent  to  an  article  in  her  Constitution 
withholding  from  the  Legislature  the  power  of  giving  free 
dom  to  the  slave. 

The  bill  for  admission  was  passed  with  the  objectionable 
clause.  It  was  ordered  to  the  third  reading,  143  to  50  ; 
and  the  Michigan  bill,  153  to  45.  A  few  members  in  each 
House,  it  is  believed,  voted  in  the  negative  on  both  bills  on 
account  of  the  informality  of  the  application  and  the  Slavery 
provision.  A  very  cogent  reason  for  pressing  the  passage 
of  these  bills,  by  Democratic  Senators,  against  these  ob 
jections,  but  which  reason  was  of  course  not  expressed  in 
debate,  was  believed  to  be,  that  the  admission  of  these 


JACKSON  S   ADMINISTRATION.  113 

States  at  this  session  would  secure  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  at 
the  approaching-  election,  six  additional  electoral  votes. 
And  it  is  quite  probable,  that  the  people  of  Arkansas  pur 
posely  availed  themselves  of  this  circumstance  to  incorpo 
rate  into  their  Constitution  this  obnoxious  provision,  pre 
suming  there  would  be  in  their  three  electoral  votes  an 
argument  sufficiently  potent  to  overcome  an  objection  which 
had  been  successfully  urged  against  a  similar  provision  in 
the  Constitution  of  Missouri  in  1821. 

A  favorite  measure  of  Mr.  Clay  was  the  distribution  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  Public  Lands  among  the 
States  ;  but  his  efforts  to  procure  the  passage'  of  a  law  for 
this  purpose  had  not  succeeded.  The  public  debt  having 
been  paid,  and  the  receipts  from  land  sales  having  been  for 
a  few  years  unusually  large,  the  surplus  revenue  had  accu 
mulated  in  the  Treasury  to  the  amount  of  many  millions  of 
dollars.  At  the  session  of  1835-1836,  Mr.  Clay  again  in 
troduced  a  distribution  bill  which  passed  the  Senate, 
25  to  20  ;  but  in  the  House  it  was  laid  on  the  table, 
114  to  85. 

A  new  and  successful  plan,  however,  was  devised.  A 
bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  Senate  further  to  regulate 
the  deposits  of  the  public  money,  which  was  so  amended  as 
to  provide  for  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  public  revenue 
among  the  States.  As  constitutional  objections  to  distri 
bution  were  known  to  be  entertained  by  some,  the- money, 
instead  of  being;  distributed  among,  was  to  be  deposited  with, 
the  States,  and' to  be  returned  at  the  call  of  Congress,  if  it 
should  at  any  time  be  needed  by  the  General  Government. 
All  the  surplus  money  in  the  Treasury  on  the  1st  of  Janu 
ary,  1837,  reserving  five  millions,  was  to  be  thus  deposited 
with  the  States  in  proportion  to  their  respective  represen 
tations  in  the  Senate  and  IJouse  of  Representatives.  The 
sum  to  be  distributed  was  about  thirty  millions.  A  few 
States  considering  the  words  "deposited  with"  a  mere 
evasion,  refused  for  some  years  to  receive  their  shares  of 
the  money.  No  part  of  it  has  yet  been  called  for,  nor  is  it 
likely  to  lie.  It  has  been  loaned  by  the  States,  and  the 
income  is  appropriated  1o  educational  and  other  State 
purposes. 

The  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas  was  pro- 


114  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

posed  at  this  session.  Independence  had  been  declared  in 
March,  1836  ;  and  after  the  victory  of  the  Tcxans  at  San 
Jaciuto  in  May,  petitions  for  recognition  were  received  by 
Congress  from  different  sections  of  the  country.  These 
petitions  were  in  the  Senate  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations.  There  was  no  material  opposition  to 
the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  ;  but  Senators  recommended 
caution.  Texas  should  first  have  a  government  de  facto. 
Mr.  Calhoun  advocated  not  only  immediate  recognition,  but 
immediate  admission  into  the  Union,  and  assigned  as  "  pow 
erful  reasons,"  the  peace  and  security  of  the  Slave  State?, 
and  the  benefits  to  the  navigating  and  manufacturing  in 
terests  of  the  North  and  East.  Mr.  Niles,  of  Conn.,  said 
we  should  regard  our  national  faith  with  Mexico.  A  hasty 
acknowledgment  might  expose  our  Government  to  a 
suspicion  of  having  encouraged  our  citizens  in  volunteer 
ing  to  aid  the  Texans.  And  this  suspicion  would  be  greatly 
strengthened  by  annexation. 

The  memorials  were  referred  ;  and  on  the  18th  of  June 
the  Committee  reported  in  favor  of  acknowledging  the  in 
dependence  of  Texas  "  whenever  satisfactory  information 
should  be  received  that  it  had  in  successful  operation  a 
civil  government  capable  of  performing  the  duties  and  ful 
filling  the  obligations  of  an  independent  power."  The  reso 
lution  was  adopted  unanimously  :  Yeas,  39. 

At  the  next  session,  December,  1836,  President  Jack 
son,  in  a  special  message,  advised  Congress  not  to  recog 
nize  the  independence  of  Texas,  until  there  should  be  no 
longer  any  danger  of  her  being  subjected,  as  had  been  our 
policy  in  the  cases  of  Mexico  and  the  South  American 
States.  The  Texans  had  resolved,  if  recognized,  to  seek 
admission  into  the  Union  ;  arid  a  too  early  movement  might 
subject  us  to  the  imputation  of  seeking  to  establish  the 
claims  of  our  neighbors  to  a  territory  with  a  view  to  its 
acquisition  by  ourselves.  The  Senate,  however,  on  the 
1st  of  March,  1837,  adopted  a  resolution  declaring  the  ac 
knowledgment  expedient  and  proper,  23  to  19.  In  the 
House,  a  similar  resolution  was  laid  upon  the  table,  98  to 
86.  The  object  contemplated,  however,  was  afterward  at 
tained,  by  an  amendment  of  the  appropriation  bill,  provid 
ing  a  "  salary  and  outfit  of  a  diplomatic  agent  to  be  sent 


JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION.  115 

to  the  Government  of  Texas,  whenever  the  President 
should  receive  satisfactory  evidence  that  Texas  was  an  in 
dependent  power,  and  that  it  was  expedient  to  appoint  such 
a  Minister."  The  amendment  was  adopted,  171  to  76. 

President  Jackson  closed  his  official  term  with  an  unset 
tled  difficulty  with  Mexico  on  his  hands.  Since  the  con 
clusion  of  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  that  country 
in  1831,  our  flag  had  been  insulted,  and  injuries  had  been 
committed  upon  the  persons  and  property  of  our  citizens  ; 
and  our  demands  for  satisfaction  had  not  been  complied 
with.  On  the  7th  of  February,  1837,  he  sent  to  Congress  a 
special  message,  in  which  he  stated  that  these  injuries,  "  in 
dependent  of  recent  insults  to  the  Government  and  people 
by  the  late  extraordinary  Mexican  Minister,*  (who  had  sud 
denly  taken  his  departure,)  "  would  justify,  in  the  eyes  of 
all  nations,  immediate  war."  But  "  considering  the  present 
embarrassed  condition  of  that  country,  we  should  act  with 
wisdom  and  moderation,  by  giving  to  Mexico  one  more  op 
portunity  to  atone  for  the  past,  before  we  take  redress  into 
our  own  hands."  And  he  recommended  an  act  authorizing 
reprisals,  and  asked  the  use  of  the  naval  force  if  she  should 
refuse  compliance  with  another  demand. 

The  Message  was  referred  in  both  Houses  ;  but  neither 
Committee  reported  in  favor  of  the  act  asked  for  ;  but  both 
reported  in  favor  of  another  demand.  Such  an  act,  they 
said,  would  violate  the  treaty  with  Mexico,  which  provided, 
that  "  neither  of  the  contracting  parties  will  order  or  au 
thorize  any  acts  of  reprisal,  nor  declare  war  against  the 
other,  on  complaint  of  injuries  or  damages,  until  the  party 
considering  itself  offended  shall  first  have  presented  to  the 
other  a  statement  of  such  injuries  or  damages,  verified  by 
competent  proofs,  and  demanded  justice  and  satisfaction, 
and  the  same  shall  have  been  refused  or  unreasonably 
delayed." 

A  National  Democratic  Convention  was  held  in  Baltimore 
as  early  as  May,  1835.  Gen.  Jackson  was  well  known  to 
be  in  favor  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  as  his  successor  ;  and  as  the 
Convention  was  composed  exclusively  of  the  friends  of  Gen, 
Jackson,  the  nomination  was  unanimous.  Richard  M. 
Johnson,  of  Ky.,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  having 
received  178  votes  to  87  for  Win.  C.  Rives,  of  Va.  No 


116  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

other  candidates  were  nominated  by  a  National  Convention. 
Gen.  Harrison  was  nominated  by  Whig-  Conventions  in 
some  of  the  States,  and  by  the  Anti-Masonic  State  Conven 
tion  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Francis  Granger,  of  N.  Y.,  was 
nominated  at  most  or  all  of  these  Conventions  for  Vice- 
Fiesident.  Several  other  candidates  were  nominated  by 
their  particular  friends.  Of  the  electors  chosen  in  Novem 
ber,  170  voted  for  Mr.  Van  Buron  ;  78  for  Wrn.  H.  Harrison  ; 
26  for  Hugh  L.  White  ;  14  for  Daniel  Webster  ;  and  11  for 
Willie  P.  Mangum.  Of  the  votes  for  Vice-President,  R.  M. 
Johnson  received  144  ;  Francis  Granger,  77  ;  John  Tyler, 
47  ;  Wm.  Smith,  23.  The  votes  were  said  to  have  been 
purposely  scattered,  in  the  hope  of  so  weakening  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  as  to  bring  the  election  into  the  House  of 
Representatives. 


VAN  BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  117 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Administration  of  Martin  Van  Buren. 

MR.  VAN  BUREN  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1837.  Being  first  in  the  confidence  of  his  predecessor, 
and  having  been  one  of  his  principal  advisers,  he  was 
almost  universally  supposed  to  be  committed  to  his  policy. 
The  extreme  caution  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  against  the  expres 
sion  of  his  opinions  on  public  measures,  the  epithet,  "  non 
committal,"  was  pretty  generally  applied  to  him.  It  had 
been  the  policy  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  for  years  before  the  elec 
tion,  to  compel  his  rivals  to  "  show  their  hand"  on  the 
Slavery  question,  on  which  the  South  felt  so  very  sensitive. 
Such,  especially,  had  been  the  case  on  .  the  subject  of  the 
recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas,  and  her  annexa 
tion  to  the  United  States,  and  also  on  the  questions  of  pro 
hibiting  the  transmission  of  Anti-Slavery  papers  through 
the  mail,  and  the  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  And  Mr.  Van  Buren  had,  in  answer  to  questions 
propounded  to  him  before  the  election,  declared,  that,  if 
elected,  he  "  must  go  into  the  Presidential  Chair  the  inflex 
ible  and  uncompromising  opponent  of  every  attempt,  on  the 
part  of  Congress,  to  abolish  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Col 
umbia,  against  the  wishes  of  the  slaveholding  States  ;  and 
also  with  a  determination  equally  decided  to  resist  the 
slightest  interference  with  it  in  the  States  where  it  exists." 
And  he  declared,  in  his  Inaugural  address,  that  "  no  bill 
conflicting  with  these  views  can  ever  receive  my  constitu 
tional  sanction."  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  generally  spoken  of 
as  "  the  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles."  The 
declarations  above  quoted  served  to  confirm  his  title  to  this 
designation.  Besides  their  evidence  of  his  servility  to  the 
Slave  Power,  they  were  objectionable  in  principle,  as  an  im 
proper  interference,  on  the  part  of  an  Executive,  with  free 
dom  of  legislation.  The  diminished  Democratic  majorities 


118  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

in  tlic  Northern  States  at  the  late  election,  made  it  appa 
rent  that,  to  be  reflected,  he  must  strengthen  himself  at  the 
South.  These  early  pledges  of  favor  to  the  Slave  interest 
were  thus  accounted  for. 

The-  country  was  suffering  under  the  pressure  caused  by 
the  issuing  of  the  specie  circular,  and  other  acts  of  war 
upon  the  currency — the  result  of  a  policy  which  he  was  con 
sidered  as  pledged  to  continue.  In  May,  a  general  bank 
explosion  occurred.  Specie  payments  were  suspended 
throughout  the  country,  caused,  in  great  part,  by  the  diver 
sion  of  specie  to  the  West,  and  in  part  by  the  large  loans 
made  by  the  banks  having  on  deposit  the  surplus  revenue, 
with  the  expectation  that  it  would  remain  with  them  until 
it  was  wanted  by  the  Government ;  but  it  had  been  unex 
pectedly  demanded  for  distribution  among  the  States. 

Speculation  was  suddenly  arrested  ;  the  inflated  prices 
of  property,  especially  of  real  estate,  were  diminished  to  the 
smallest  point  ;  and  the  ideal  fortunes  which  had  been 
made,  perhaps  in  a  single  "  operation,"  vanished.  Mercan 
tile  failures  in  the  commercial  cities  were,  in  number  and 
amount,  unprecedented.  The  revulsion  was  complete.  The 
President  was  requested  to  rescind  the  specie  circular,  and 
to  call  an  extra  meeting  of  Congress.  A  proclamation  was 
issued  for  convening  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  in 
September. 

The  suspension,  probably,  more  than  all  other  causes,  in 
duced' the  President  to  make  the  call.  By  the  laws  regu 
lating  the  deposits,  the  federal  officers  were  prohibited  from, 
receiving  or  paying  out  the  notes  of  any  but  specie-paying 
banks.  And  the  Deposit  Banks,  too,  had  suspended. 
Hence,  no  collection  or  disbursements  of  public  moneys 
could  be  made  but  in  violation  of  law. 

Congress  met  on  the  4th  of  September.  The  President 
suggested  the  entire  disuse  of  banks  as  fiscal  agents  of  the 
Government  ;  and  recommended  the  collection,  safe-keep 
ing,  and  disbursement  of  the  public  money  by  officers  of  the 
Government,  and  the  use  of  specie  alone  in  its  fiscal  opera 
tions.  The  sales  of  the  public  lauds  having  fallen  off  nearly 
three-fourths  during  the  year,  and  the  revenue  from  duties 
on  imports  having  been  diminished  nearly  one-half,  while 
the  appropriations  had  been  increased,  he  recommended 


VAN   BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION".  119 

that  the  fourth  and  last  installment  of  the  surplus  revenue 
to  be  deposited  with  the  States,  be  withheld  for  the  use  of 
the  Government. 

Mr.  Wright,  of  N.  Y.,  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  re 
ported  a  bill  in  conformity  with  the  President's  suggestions. 
It  required  the  officers  receiving  the  moneys  to  give  bonds 
for  their  safe-keeping.  The  same  bill  was  reported  to  the 
House  of  Representatives.  It  was  to  establish  the  independ 
ent  treasury,  more  frequently  called  the  "  sub-treasury." 

Five  other  bills,  designed  to  give  temporary  relief  to  the 
Government,  were  reported  to  the  Senate  :  (1.)  A.  bill  to 
postpone  the  payment  of  the  fourth  installment  of  the  de 
posits  with  the  States.  This  bill,  after  an  interesting  de 
bate,  passed  the  Senate,  28  to  It.  Thus  the  last  install 
ment,  ($9,367,200,)  was  withheld,  and  has  never  been 
deposited  with  the  States.  (2.)  A  bill  to  authorize  the 
issue  of  Treasury  notes.  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  course  of  his  re 
marks  on  this  bill,  said  :  "  The  Government  will  not  receive 
the  paper  of  the  country,  and  is  about  to  create  a  paper  of 
its  own,  which  the  country  is  expected  to  receive  !  And 
thus,  all  the  promises  which  have  been  made  to  us  of  the 
flowing  of  gold  and  silver  all  over  the  country,  these  pro 
mises  of  a  better  currency  result  in  the  issue  of  ten  millions 
of  paper  money  1"  [Ten  millions  was  the  amount  author 
ized.]  (3.)  A  bill  extending  the  time  for  the  payment  of 
merchants'  bonds,  [for  duties.]  (4.)  A  bill  for  adjusting 
the  remaining  claims  on  Deposit  Banks.  (5.)  A  bill  to  au 
thorize  merchandise  to  be  deposited  in  public  stores.  All 
these  bills  passed  both  Houses  and  became  laws.  The  de 
posit  of  the  fourth  installment  was  postponed  until  the  1st 
of  January,  1839.  But,  as  has  been  stated,  it  has  never 
reached  the  Treasuries  of  the  States.  The  three  install 
ments  which  had  been  deposited,  amounted  to  about  twenty- 
eight  millions. 

The  Sub-Treasury  bill  reported  by  Mr.  Wright  was 
amended,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  so  as  to  require  the 
eventual  payment  of  all  Government  dues  in  specie.  This 
amendment  was  adopted,  24  to  23.  Several  Democratic 
Senators  and  Representatives  took  ground  agaiast  the  ad 
ministration  on  its  financial  policy,  and  left  the  party. 
Among  them  was  Senator  N.  P.  Tallmadge,  of  N.  Y 


120  DEMOCRATIC   MIRBOR. 

Speaking  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  he  deprecated  this  war- 
fare  against  the  whole  credit  system  of  the  country.  He 
maintained  that  if  the  Government  itself  had  not  entered 
into  measures  destructive  of  public  confidence,  this  crisis 
would  not  have  occurred. 

In  the  House,  also,  were  a  number  who  had  separated 
from  their  Democratic  friends  on  financial  questions,  and 
who  united  with  the  Whigs.  They  were  called  "  Conserva 
tives."  By  this  defection  from  the  party,  the  Sub-Treasury 
scheme  was  defeated.  The  bill  was  laid  on  the  table,  120 
to  107. 

Some  readers  may  not  know  the  origin  of  this  financial 
plan.  In  February,  1835,  a  bill  passed  the  Senate  to  regu 
late  the  deposits  of  the  public  money.  In  the  House,  Mr. 
Gordon,  of  Va.,  who  was  opposed  to  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  as  unconstitutional,  and  to  all  banks  as  depositories 
of  the  public  moneys,  moved  an  amendment,  similar  to  one 
offered  by  him  to  a  bill  at  the  preceding  session.  Mr.  Gor 
don  had  been  a  Jackson  man  ;  but  disapproving  the  Presi 
dent's  interference  with  the  public  revenues,  he  had,  since 
the  removal  of  the  deposits,  voted  on  this  and  kindred  ques 
tions  with  the  opposition.  His-  amendment  was  rejected  : 
Ayes,  33  ;  noes,  161.  Some  Whigs,  (among  whom  was 
Mr.  Adams,)  being  opposed  to  the  President's  "  pet  bank'7 
system,  together  with  some  Democrats,  voted  for  Mr.  Gor 
don's  proposition,  which  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
agents  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  to  keep  and 
disburse  the  revenue,  giving  bonds  for  the  faithful  execution 
of  their  office.  It  was  loudly  denounced  by  the  Democrats, 
as  a  ridiculous,  odious  Whig  measure.  Yet  this  same 
measure  was  two  years  later  advocated  by  them  as  the 
panacea  for  the  all-pervading  financial  disease  which  afflict 
ed  the  country. 

Two  days  after  the  defeat  of  the  Sub-Treasury  bill, 
Congress  adjourned  (October  16)  to  the  1st  Monday  in. 
December. 

At  the  next  session,  the  first  regular  session  of  Congress 
under  Mr.  Van  Bureu,  (December,  1837,)  the  President 
again  recommended  the  establishment  of  the  Independent 
Treasury.  A  bill  was  introduced,  proposing  the  gradual 
collection  of  revenues  in  specie.  After  an  able  discussion 


VAN  BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  121 

by  Messrs.  Wright,  Benton,  and  other  Senators  in  its  favor, 
and  Messrs.  Clay,  Webster,  Rives,  and  White  in  opposition, 
Mr.  Rives  offered  a  substitute,  requiring1  the  payment  of 
the  revenue  in  coin  and  the  notes  of  specie  paying  banks 
issuing  large  bills  only. 

Messrs.  Grundy,  of  Tenn.,  Buchanan,  of  Fa.,  and  Wall, 
of  N.  J.,  all  Democrats,  were  instructed  by  their  respective 
State  Legislatures  to  vote  against  the  bill.  The  two  first 
declared  their  intention  to  obey,  the  last  declared  his  inten 
tion  to  disregard  instructions. 

The  bill  was  amended  by  striking  out  the  "  specie  clause," 
and  further,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Webster,  by  prohibiting  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  from  issuing  any  general  order 
making  any  discrimination  as  to  the  funds  or  medium  in 
which  debts  to  the  United  States  should  be  paid.  Thus 
amended,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate,  27  to  25.  In  the 
House,  the  bill  of  the  Senate  was  reported  the  next  day, 
(March  27th,)  and  laid  on  the  table,  106  to  98. 

Mr.  Hubbard,  of  N.  H.,  had,  in  the  debate  in  the  Senate 
on  this  bill,  read  from  that  part  of  the  President's  Message 
which  ascribed  the  unexpected  results  of  the  late  State 
elections  (of  1837)  to  hank  influence  ;  and  had  undertaken 
to  explain  the  result  in  New  York.  [This  State  had  given 
large  Whig  majorities.  Out  of  128  members  of  the  As 
sembly,  101  opponents  of  the  administration  were  elected. 
Great  changes  had  also  taken  place  in  other  States.] 

Mr.  Tallmadge,  of  N.  Y.,  a  "  conservative,''  defended  the 
people  against  the  President's  charge.  He  ascribed  the  re 
sults  to  the  principles  of  the  President  and  his  party,  taken 
from  the  creed  of  the  "  Loco-foco"  faction  which  originated 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1829.  [The  "  faction"  here  re 
ferred  to,  were  dissenters  to  the  proceedings  of  a  meeting 
of  a  Democratic  nominating  committee  in  Tammany  Hall. 
The  committee  having  abruptly  extinguished  the  gas,  it 
was  re- lighted  by  loco-foco  matches  ;  whence  the  name  of 
Loco-focos.]  This  faction,  said  Mr.  T.,  was  turned  out  of 
Tammany  Hall  in  the  pure  days  of  the  Democratic  Repub 
lican  party,  and  held  meetings  in  the  open  air,  whenever  it 
was  necessary  to  take  measures  to  reduce,  the  price  of  flour,  or 
to  carry  out  any  other  great  principle  of  political  economy  1 
[Allusion  was  made  to  a  mob  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in 


122  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

February,  1837,  at  a  time  of  high  prices.  The  notice  of 
the  meeting,  which  was  to  be  held  in  the  Park,  declared, 
that  "  high  prices  must  come  down  !''  Its  object  was  "to 
inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  present  distress,  and  to  devise 
a  suitable  remedy."  About  5,000  persons  assembled  ;  and 
after  some  inflammatory  speeches,  a  large  body  of  them 
proceeded  to  some  flour  stores,  and  destroyed  wheat  and 
flour,  with  other  property,  to  the  amount  of  $10,000.]  After 
their  principles  had  received  the  countenance  of  the  admin- 
is tration,  they  returned  to  the  wigwam,  displaced  the  ancient 
sachems,  and  there  they  now  illustrate  their  ideas  of  free 
dom  of  speech  and  free  discussion,  by  the  forcible  interrup 
tion  of  the  assemblages  of  orderly  citizens  who  happen  to 
entertain  opinions  on  matters  of  public  policy  contrary  to 
their  own.  They  are  now  the  leaders  of  the  party,  and  the 
prominent  candidates  for  executive  favor.  The  leading 
features  of  their  creed,  said  Mr.  T.,  was  the  destruction  of 
the  whole  banking  system  of  the  country,  the  repeal  of 
chatters,  and  the  abrogation  of  vested  rights.  And  this 
was  understood  by  the  people  to  be  the  policy  of  the  ad 
ministration. 

In  reply  to  the  thrust  at  State  Banks  for  suspending  spe 
cie  payments,  and  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York 
authorizing  suspension,  Mr.  T.  said,  by  the  law  of  that 
State,  (the  old  Safety-fund  law,)  a  bank  failing  to  redeem 
its  notes  for  ten  days,  its  doors  were  enjoined  to  be  closed, 
and  a  receiver  wag  appointed  to  collect  its  dues  and  pay 
its  dobts.  The  people  owed  the  banks  about  $70,000,000. 
The  collection  of  this  amount  would  have  caused  general 
disticss  and  ruin.  Tiie  Legislature  being  in  session,  a  law 
was  passed,  almost  unanimously,  to  suspend  for  a  year  the 
forfeiture  of  the  charters  which  had  been  incurred  by  their 
failing  to  redeem.  This  act  had  been  denounced  by  public 
meetings  in  New  York  by  the  friends  of  the  administration  ; 
and  this  denunciation  had  been  reiterated  by  the  Govern 
ment  organ  here. 

Mr.  T.  referred  to  the  President's  having  recommended 
"  a  uniform  law  concerning  bankruptcies  of  corporations 
and  other  bankers,"  as  a  measure  "fully  authorized  by  the 
Constitution."  The  effect  of  such  a  law  would  have  been, 
that  every  bank  in  the  Union  would  have  been  handed  over 


VAN  BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  123 

to  commissioners,  and  its  concerns  closed  up  ;  for  all  had 
suspended  :  and  the  result  would  have  been  ruin  from  one 
extremity  of  the  Union  to  the  other.  Fortunately,  Congress 
did  not  adopt  the  recommendation.  Mr.  T.  alluded  to  the 
fact  that,  in  1826,  Mr.  Van  Buren  had,  on  that  floor,  in  a 
discussion  of  a  bankrupt  bill,  opposed  its  application  to- 
banking1  incorporations,  "  as  an  odious  exercise  of  power 
riot  granted  by  the  Constitution  ;"  but  in  1837,  as  Presi 
dent,  he  proposes  such  a  law  and  pronounces  it  constitu 
tional.  The  people  foresaw  what  would  have  been  the 
effects  of  the  proposed  bankrupt  law,  and  of  the  Sub-Trea 
sury  scheme.  They  saw  by  the  official  organ,  after  the  lat 
ter  had  been  defeated  at  the  extra  session,  that  it  was  to 
be  again  forced  upon  Congress.  The  people  also  saw  that 
some  of  their  representatives  here,  pursuing  the  straight 
forward  track  of  principle,  refusing  to  turn  about  at  the 
word  of  command,  and  opposing  the  measure  which  the 
whole  party,  with  Gen.  Jackson  at  their  head,  opposed  in 
1831,  arid  which  the  official  organ  then  pronounced  "dis 
organizing  and  revolutionary,"  were  for  this  adherence  to 
principle,  denounced  and  proscribed  by  this  same  official 
organ  of  the  administration.  They  saw  established  at  the 
seat  of  Government,  by  the  discipline  of  party,  a  despotism, 
the  most  perfect  on  earth — the  despotism  of  opinion  !  These 
Mr.  T.  regarded  as  the  causes  of  the  results  of  the  late 
elections. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  who  had,  since  the  removal  of  the  deposits, 
or  during  most  of  the  period  of  the  "  war  upon  the  currency," 
cooperated  with  the  Whigs,  again  united  with  the  admin 
istration,  and  advocated  the  Sub-Treasury  project  as  a  plan 
for  separating  the  Government  from  all  banks. 

A  joint  resolution  virtually  repealing  the  specie  circular 
of  July,  1836,  was  passed,  May  31,  1838,  by  large  majori 
ties  in  both  Houses,  and  became  a  law.  By  this  act,  all 
payments  to  the  Government  might  be  made  either  in  spe 
cie,  treasury  notes,  or  the  bills  of  specie  paying  banks. 
By  acts  of  April  and  June,  1836,  however,  no  bank  notes 
for  less  than  $20,  nor  those  of  any  bank  issuing  notes  or 
bills  for  less  than  $5,  were  to  be  received. 

The  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas  at  the  pre 
ceding  session,  1830-1837  and  the  intimation  of  an  at- 

I 


124  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

tempt  to  effect  her  annexation  to  the  United  States,  was 
followed  by  numerous  remonstrances,  at  the  present  ses 
sion,  against  annexation.  Resolutions  to  the  same  effect 
were  passed  by  the  Legislatures  of  some  States,  and  by 
others  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  measure. 

In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Preston,  of  S.  C.,  on  the  4th  of  Janu 
ary,  1 838,  offered  a  resolution  in  favor  of  the  "  r°annexa- 
tion"  of  Texas  to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  "  with 
the  consent  of  that  State  previously  had,  and  whenever  it 
can  be  effected  consistently  with  the  faith  and  treaty  stipu 
lations  of  the  United  States."  Mr.  Preston  supported  his 
resolution  by  a  long  and  able  speech. 

In  the  House,  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  presented  a  large 
number  of  memorials  against  annexation,  moved  that  these 
and  all  others,  be  referred  to  a  Select  Committee.  Mr. 
Howard,  of  Md.f  having  moved  their  reference  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs, 

Mr.  Adams  said  he  and  his  colleagues  viewed  this  ques 
tion  as  one  which  involved  the  integrity  of  the  Union — a 
question  of  the  most  deep,  abiding,  arid  vital  interest  to 
the  whole  American  nation.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  in  the  face 
of  this  House,  in  the  face  of  Heaven,  I  avow  it  as  my 
solemn  belief,  that  the  annexation  of  an  independent  power 
to  this  Government,  would,  ipso  facto,  be  a  dissolution  of 
this  Union.  And  is  this  a  subject  for  the  peculiar  investi 
gation  of  your  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  ?"  Mr.  A. 
said  the  question  involved  was,  whether  a  foreign  nation, 
acknowledged  as  such  in  a  most  unprecedented  and  extra 
ordinary  manner,  by  this  Government,  a  nation  "  damned 
to  everlasting  fame"  by  the  reinstitution  of  that  detestable 
system,  Slavery,  after  it  had  once  been  abolished  within  its 
borders,  should  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  a  nation  of 
freemen.  "  For,  sir,  that  name,  thank  God,  is  still  ours  ! 
And  is  such  a  question  as  this  to  be  referred  to  a  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs  ?" 

Mr.  A.  continued  his  speech  at  considerable  length,  con 
demning  the  conduct  of  the  last  and  the  present  adminis 
trations  in  relation  to  the  affairs  of  Texas  ;  declaring  that 
the  nation  to  be  annexed  had  its  origin  in  violence  and 
fraud  ;  that  the  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  had 
been  itvadcd  by  the  Executive  of  this  Government  ;  and 


VAN  BUREN'S  .  ADMINISTRATION.  125 

that  conspirators  had  come  here  and  concerted  plans  of 
operations  with  members  of  our  own  Government  !  And 
yet  we  had  heard  the  bold  and  unblushing  pretense  that 
the  people  of  Texas  were  struggling-  for  freedom,  and  that 
the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  them  by  Mexico  had  driven  them 
into  insurrection,  and  had  forced  them  to  fight  for  liberty  1 
Mr.  Adarns  then  referred  to  certain  facts  to  prove  the  real 
origin  of  the  insurrection.  The  motions  of  reference  were 
laid  on  the  table,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Wise,  127  to  68.  In 
October  it  was  officially  announced,  that,  since  the  propo 
sition  submitted  by  Texas  for  admission  into  the  Union  had 
been  declined,  the  Texan  Minister  had  communicated  the 
formal  and  absolute  withdrawal  of  the  proposition. 

At  the  next  session,  (1838-1839,)  the  famous  "gag  reso 
lutions"  offered  by  Mr.  Atherton,  of  N.  H.,  were  adopted  by 
the  House.  One  of  them  required,  that  every  petition,  me 
morial,  or  paper  relating  in  any  way  to  Slavery,  should,  on 
presentation,  without  further  action  thereon,  be  laid  on  the 
table  without  being  debated,  printed  or  referred.  It  was 
passed,  127  to  78.  The  introduction  of  resolutions  virtually 
denying  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  by  a  Democrat, 
and  passed  almost  exclusively  by  the  votes  of  Democratic 
members,  together  with  numerous  other  votes  on  questions 
involving  the  interests  of  Slavery,  proves  the  union  between 
it  and  Democracy  to  have  been  at  this  time  fully  formed  ; 
or,  that  Democracy  and  Slavery  were  equally  expressive  of 
the  real  character  of  the  party  misnamed  "  Democratic" — a 
character  which  it  still  maintains. 

A  singular  affair  occurred  in  1839  and  1840,  which  de 
serves  notice.  In  August,  1839,  a  Spanish  schooner,  named 
L'Amistad,  lying  near  the  coast  of  Connecticut,  was  cap 
tured  by  Lieut.  Gedney,  of  the  brig  Washington.  The  ves 
sel  was  bound  from  Havana  to  Port  Principe  with  fifty-four 
blacks  and  two  passengers  on  board.  The  latter  were 
owners  of  the  vessel  and  cargo,  and  claimed  the  blacks  as 
their  slaves.  Four  nights  after  they  were  out,  the  blacks 
rose  and  murdered  the  captain  and  three  of  the  crew  ;  then 
took  possession  of  the  vessel  with  the  intention  of  return 
ing  to  Africa.  The  two  passengers  were  saved  to  navigate 
the  vessel.  But  instead  of  steering  for  Africa,  they  navi 
gated  in  a  different  directio-n  when  they  could  do  so  without 


126  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

detection.  The  slaves  had  been  purchased  at  Havana  soon 
after  their  arrival  from  Africa.  Cingues,  the  leader  of  the 
revolt,  and  thirty-eight  others,  were  committed  for  trial.  A 
demand  was  soon  after  made  upon  our  Government  by  the 
acting  Spanish  Minister  in  this  country,  for  the  surrender 
of  the  L'Arnistad,  cargo,  and  alleged  slaves,  to  the  Spanish 
authorities. 

The  contest  between  the  opposing  counsel  of  the  parties, 
the  issuing  of  several  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  &c.,  &c., 
must  be  passed  over.  [See  American  Statesman,  pp. 
723-726.] 

In  January,  1840,  the  decision  of  Judge  Judson,  of  the 
District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  Connecticut,  was 
given.  The  blacks  who  murdered  the  Captain  and  others 
on  board  the  schooner,  were  set  free.  The  schooner  having 
been  proved  to  have  been  taken  on  the  "  high  seas,"  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Court  was  established.  The  libel  of 
Gedney  and  others  had  been  properly  filed,  and  the  seizers 
were  entitled  to  salvage.  Ruiz  and  Montez  had  established 
no  title  to  the  Africans,  who,  it  was  presumed,  had  been 
imported  from  Africa  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  Spain. 
The  demand  of  restoration  made  by  the  Spanish  Minister 
that  the  question  might  be  tried  in  Cuba,  was  refused,  as 
by  Spanish  laws  the  negroes  could  not  be  enslaved  ;  and 
therefore  they  could  not  properly  be  demanded  for  trial. 
One  of  them,  a  Creole,  and  legally  a  slave,  and  wishing  to 
be  returned  to  Havana,  a  restoration  would  be  decreed 
under  the  treaty  of  1795.  These  Africans  were  to  bo  de 
livered  to  the  President,  under  the  act  of  1819,  to  be  trans 
ported  to  Africa. 

An  appeal  was. taken  to  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States,  Judge  Thompson  presiding,  who  affirmed  the  decree 
of  the  District  Court.  And  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  at  the  instance  of  the  Spanish  Minister,  directed  an 
appeal  to  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
That  Court  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the  District  Court  in 
every  respect  as  to  sending  the  negroes  back  to  Africa  : 
they  were  diccharged  as  free  men. 

The  course  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  this  affair  was,  by  many, 
deemed  highly  censurable.  His  lending  to  the  Spanish 
Minister  the  name  of  the  Government,  after  the  two  adjudi* 


VAX  BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  127 

cations  in  the  lower  Courts,  to  perfect  an  appeal  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Spanish  claimants, 
who  were  guilty  of  a  gross  outrage  upon  humanity,  was  re 
garded  as  bad  statesmanship,  and  not  justified  by  any  re 
cognized  principle  of  comity  between  friendly  nations. 
And  the  disposition  manifested  by  him  to  effect  the  delivery 
of  the  captives  to  the  Spanish  authorities  at  Cuba,  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  of  Spain,  which  would 
have  exposed  their  freedom  to  imminent  peril,  evinced  a 
reprehensible  indifference  to  the  claims  of  humanity 

The  26th  Congress  signalized  itself  by  a  most  disgrace 
ful  act.  As  parties  in  the  House  were  known  to  be  nearly 
equal,  great  anxiety  was  felt  on  both  sides  in  relation  to 
the  election  of  Speaker.  Congress  assembled  on  the  2d  of 
December,  1839,  on  which  day  every  member,  except  one, 
was  present.  The  gains  of  the  Whigs  had  given  them 
hope  of  a  small  majority,  provided  the  contested  seats,  of 
which  there  were  not  less  than  six,  should  be  awarded  to 
the  Whig  claimants,  all  of  whom  had  certificates  of 
election. 

At  twelve  o'clock,  the  Clerk  of  the  last  House,  Hugh  A. 
Garland,  in  conformity  with  the  former  practice,  com 
menced  calling  the  roll  of  the  members  elect.  Having 
called  the  members  from  the  New  England  States  and  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  one  of  the  members,  Mr.  Randolph, 
from  New  Jersey,  he  paused,  and  proposed  to  pass  over  the 
names  of  the  five  members  whose  right  to  seats  was  to  be 
contested,  until  members  of  the  remaining  States  should 
have  been  called.  A  stormy  debate  of  several  days  en 
sued.  Opposition  members  contended  that,  according  to 
custom,  the  claimants  having  regular  certificates  of  elec 
tion,  should  be  admitted  to  seats  until  a  formal  investiga 
tion  could  be  had. 

Mr.  Halsted,  of  N.  J.,  demanded  that  his  name  be  called, 
and  he  read  that  section  of  the  law  of  his  State  which 
makes  the  Governor's  certificate  the  evidence  of  election, 
which,  he  insisted,  the  Clerk  was  bound  to  receive  as  prima 
facie  evidence  of  his  right  to  sit  there.  Various  motions 
were  made  ;  but  the  Clerk  refused  to  entertain  them.  Hav 
ing  been  again  directed  to  begin  the  call,  he  again  at 
tempted  to  pass  over  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 


128  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Mr.  Adams  now  arose  amid  great  confusion,  and  inter 
rupted  the  Clerk  ;  and  order  was  restored.  "  It  was  not 
my  intention,"  said  he,  "  to  take  any  part  in  these  extra 
ordinary  proceedings.  I  had  hoped  that  this  House  would 
succeed  in  organizing  itself ;  that  a  Speaker  and  Clerk 
would  be  elected,  arid  that  the  ordinary  business  of  legisla 
tion  would  be  allowed  to  commence.  This  is  not  the  time 
nor  place  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  conflicting  claimants 
for  scats  from  New  Jersey  ;  that  subject  belongs  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which,  by  the  Constitution,  is 
made  the  ultimate  arbiter  of  the  qualifications  of  its  mem 
bers.  But  what  a  spectacle  do  we  here  present  ?  We  de 
grade  and  disgrace  ourselves,  our  constituents,  and  the 
country.  We  do  not,  can  not  organize  ;  and  why  ?  Be 
cause  the  Clerk  of  this  House  ;  the  mere  Clerk,  whom  we 
create,  whom  we  employ,  and  whose  existence  depends  on 
our  will,  usurps  the  throne,  and  sets  us,  the  representatives, 
the  vicegerents  of  the  whole  American  people,  at  defiance, 
and  holds  us  in  contempt.  And  what  is  this  Clerk  of  yours  ? 
Is  he  to  control  the  destinies  of  sixteen  millions  of  free 
men  ?  Is  he  to  suspend,  by  his  mere  negative,  the  func 
tions  of  government,  and  put  an  end  to  this  Congress  ?  He 
refuses  to  call  the  roll.  It  is  in  your  power  to  compel  him 
to  call  it  if  he  will  not  do  it  voluntarily.  [Here  he  was  in 
terrupted  with  a  statement  that  the  Clerk  would  resign, 
rather  than  to  call  New  Jersey.]  Well,  then,  let  him  re 
sign  ;  and  we  may  possibly  discover  some  way  by  which 
we  may  get  along  without  the  aid  of  his  powerful  talent, 
learning,  and  genius.  If  we  can  not  organize  in  any  other 
way,  if  this  Clerk  of  }rours  will  not  consent  to  our  discharg 
ing  the  trusts  confided  to  us  by  our  constituents,  then  let 
us  imitate  the  example  of  Virginia  in  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses,  which,  when  Dinwiddie  ordered  it  to  disperse  re 
fused  to  obey  the  insulting  mandate." 

He  then  moved  that  the  Clerk  proceed  with  the  calling 
of  the  roll,  who  again  refused  to  ontertain  the  motion. 
Several  members  inquired  how  the  question  should  be  put. 
Mr.  A.  replied  that  he  intended  to  put  it  himself.  Mr.  Rhett, 
of  S.  C.,  then  moved  that  Mr.  Adams  be  appointed  tempo 
rary  Chairman.  Mr.  R.  himself  put  the  question,  which 
was  carried  ;  and  Mr.  Adams  took  the  chair.  Having 


VAN  BUREN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  129 

decided  that  of  the  members  from  the  State  of  New  Jersey 
only  those  who  held  commissions  in  conformity  with  the 
laws  of  the  State  were  entitled  to  vote,  Mr.  Vanderpoel, 
of  N.  Y.,  appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  Chair  ;  and  after 
a  debate  of  several  days,  the  decision  was  negatived,  (De 
cember  10th,)  114  to  108.  The  next  day  Mr.  Naylor  and 
Mr.  Ingersoll,  of  Pa.,  were  both  denied  the  right  to  vote. 

Passing  over  several  days'  proceedings,  we  come  to  the 
election  of  Speaker,  on  the  14th  of  December.  The  vote 
was  taken  viva,  voce,  Mr.  Adams7  name  having  been  called, 
he  answered  :  "  Reserving  all  my  rights  of  objecting  here 
after  to  this  election  as  unconstitutional  and  illegal,  I  vote 
for  John  Bdir  Other  Whig  members  also  voted  under  pro 
test.  John  W  Jones,  of  Va.,  received  the  Democratic 
votes,  113  ;  Mr.  Bell,  102  ;  scattering  20.  Five  more  bal 
lots  were  taken  on  that  day.  On  the  16th,  the  balloting 
was  resumed  ;  and  five  more  ballots  were  taken  ;  when 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Va.,  was,  on  the  llth  ballot,  elected 
Speaker,  having  received  119  votes  ;  and  Mr.  Jones,  55. 
Mr.  Hunter  had  been  a  Jackson  man,  but  now  acted  with 
the  Whigs,  but  was  in  favor  of  the  Sub-Treasury.  A  Clerk 
was  chosen  on  the  21st ;  and  on  the  24th,  the  President's 
Message  was  delivered. 

The  Committee  on  elections  reported  on  the  5th  of  March 
in  favor  of  the  five  administration  members.  Representa 
tives  were  then  elected  in  New  Jersey  by  general  ticket. 
Further  proceedings  were  had  in  relation  to  this  subject, 
extending  to  the  16th  of  July. 

It  is  questionable  whether  the  history  of  legislation  in 
this  country  furnishes  many  instances  of  proceedings  so 
dishonorable  and  unprincipled  as  those  sketched  in  the 
preceding  pages.  Every  member  who  voted  against  the 
admission  of  those  who  presented  legal  certificates  of  elec 
tion,  knew  that  he  acted  in  violation  of  a  rule  established 
by  long  usage,  and  sanctioned  by  reason  and  common 
sense.  But  it  was  resolved  to  force  upon  the  people  that 
darling  financial  scheme  which  had  been  twice  rejected — 
the  sub-treasury  ;  and  without  the  votes  of  these  contest 
ing  Democrats,  another  defeat  was  anticipated.  Having; 
secured  a  majority,  the  Independent  Treasury  was  estab 
lished  at  the  same  session. 


130  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

A  Presidential  election  was  at  hand.  Gen.  Win.  H. 
Harrison  hud  been  nominated  by  a  Whig  National  Conven 
tion  at  Harrisburg,  in  December,  1839  ;  and  John  Tyler  for 
Vice-President. 

The  Democratic  Convention,  which  met  at  Baltimore  in 
May,  1840,  had  nominated  Mr.  Van  Burcn  for  reelection. 
No  candidate  for  Vice-President  was  nominated  by  the 
Convention. 

The  Abolitionists,  who  had  hitherto  voted  according  to 
their  former  party  attachments,  now  had  candidates  of  their 
own — James  G.  Birney  for  President  ;  and  Francis  J.  La- 
moyne  for  Vice-President. 

The  canvass  of  1840  was  unusually  spirited.  The 
general  depression  in  money  and  business  affairs,  ascribed 
to  the  interference  of  the  Government  with  the  currency, 
continued  in  full  force.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States 
had  been  destroyed  ;  and,  notwithstanding  its  capital  con 
tinued  to  be  employed  under  a  charter  from  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  State  bank  capital  had  been  tripled  or 
quadrupled.  The  paper  of  some  of  these  banks  was  greatly 
depreciated  ;  that  of  others  had  become  worthless.  In 
Mississippi,  there  was,  in  1830,  besides  the  branch  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  but  one  chartered  bank,  with  a  capi 
tal  of  less  than  one  million  of  dollars  ;  in  1838,  the 
chartered  bank  capital  of  that  State  had  reached  upward 
of  sixty  millicns.  The  excessive  issue  of  bank  paper  had 
been  followed  by  its  natural  result,  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments,  which  still  continued  in  some  States, 
especially  the  Western  and  South-Western.  And  where 
specie  payments  had  been  resumed,  banks  were  obliged  to 
restrict  their  issues. 

The  prevailing  public  distress  was  attributable  in  great 
part,  to  the  operation  of  the  Compromise  Tariff  of  1833, 
which  had  now  almost  reached  its  lowest  rates  of  duties  ; 
and  for  the  want  of  adequate  protection,  many  branches 
of  manufactures  had  either  greatly  declined  or  been 
abandoned  ;  and  vast  numbers  of  laborers  had  been 
thrown  out  of  employment.  These  and  other  causes 
had  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  popular  mind.  Many, 
believing  a  change  of  administration  could  not  be  for  tho 
worse,  were  disposed  to  try  the  experiment. 


VAN  BUP.ENJ6   ADMINISTRATION.  131 

The  Whig  candidates,  Harrison  and  Tyler,  received  of 
the  electoral  votes  234.  Mr.  Van  Buren  received  60  ;  and 
Richard  M.  Johnson,  for  Vice-President,  received  48. 


132  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Administration  of  Presidents  Harrison  and  Tyler. 

GEK.  HARRISON  was  inaugurated  as  President  on  the  4th 
of  March,  1841. 

His  Inaugural  Address  was  a  long  one,  and  embraced 
many  topics.  It  was,  he  said,  a  defect  of  the  Constitution 
that  it  does  not  prohibit  the  reelection  of  a  President.  This 
defect  might  be  corrected  by  his  refusing  to  serve  a  second 
term.  Being,  by  fair  construction,  no  part  of  the  Legisla 
tive  power,  he  ought  to  use  the  veto  sparingly.  His  power 
"  as  the  sole  distributor  of  all  the  patronage  of  the  Govern 
ment,"  and  his  assumption  of  the  power  to  control  the  pub 
lic  finances,  were  dangerous.  He  rejected  the  idea  of  an 
exclusive  metallic  currency.  He  deprecated  the  agitation 
of  the  question  of  Slavery.  And  among  other  things,  ho 
expressed  "  a  profound  reverence  for  the  Christian  religion, 
and  a  thorough  conviction  that  sound  morals,  religious 
liberty, '  and  a  just  sense  of  religious  responsibility,  are 
essentially  connected  with  all  true  and  lasting  happiness." 

The  state  of  the  currency  and  the  finances  being  such  as 
seemed  to  require  immediate  attention,  he  issued  a  procla 
mation  on  the  17th  of  March,  convening  Congress  on  the 
last  Monday  (31st)  of  May.  He  was  soon  taken  ill,  and 
within  eight  days,  died  on  the  4th  of  April,  at  the  Execu 
tive  mansion  in  the  city  of  Washington.  By  virtue  of  a 
provision  of  the  Constitution  to  that  effect,  John  Tyler  be 
came  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Tyler's  Inaugural  was  short.  In  regard  to  foreign  na« 
ticns,  his  policy  would  be  both  to  render  and  demand  justice. 
He  pledged  himself  to  "  a  complete  separation  between  the 
sword  and  the  purse."  He  would  not  remove  faithful  and 
honest  officers,  except  for  giving  their  official  influences  to 
the  purposes  of  party.  He  would  observe  a  rigid  economy 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  133'.. 

in  public  expenditures.  War  between  the  Government  and 
the  currency  should  cease.  He  retained  in  office  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Cabinet  appointed  by  Gen.  Harrison. 

Congress  met  in  special  session  on  the  31st  of  May,  1841. 
The  principal  subjects  of  the  Message  were  those  of  the 
revenue,  and  of  a  fiscal  agent  capable  of  adding  increased 
facilities  in  its  collection  and  disbursement.  The  Treasury 
was  deficient  eleven  and  a  half  millions  for  the  year.  But 
in  providing  for  the  wants  of  the  Treasury,  he  advised  not 
to  alter  the  compromise  tariff  act  of  1833.  The  employ 
ment  of  State  Banks  as  fiscal  agents  had  been  abandoned  ; 
but  he  expressed  no  opinion  as  to  the  benefits  of  a  National 
Bank.  The  Sub-Treasury  had  been  plainly  condemned. 

John  White,  a  Whig  member  from  Kentucky,  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  by  121  votes,  to  84  for  John  W. 
Jones,  of  Va.  There  was  in  the  Senate  also  a  Whig 
majority. 

A  bill  was  passed  repealing  the  Sub-Treasuiy.  It  passed 
the  Senate,  29  to  18  ;  the  House,  134  to  87.  It  contained 
a  provision  making  it  a  felony  for  an  officer  charged  with 
the  safe-keeping  and  disbursement  of  the  revenue,  to  use 
or  to  loan  it.  This  section  was  designed  to  prevent  defal 
cations,  of  which  there  were  so  many,  and  which  amounted 
to  so  large  a  sum,  during  the  preceding  administration. 
[The  number  of  defaulters  was  said  to  be  about  forty  ;  and 
the  sum  about  two  millions.] 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Ewing,  recommended 
the  establishment  of  a  Bank.  The  President  having  signi 
fied  to  some  friends  a  desire  that  the  Secretary  should  be 
called  on  for  a  plan,  a  call  was  made  by  both  Houses,  and 
a  plan  was  reported.  To  avoid  constitutional  objections, 
it  was  to  be  incorporated  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  with 
power  to  establish  branches  only  with  the  assent  of  the 
States. 

In  the  Senate,  a  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Clay.  It 
passed  that  body,  26  to  23  ;  the  House,  128  to  97.  It  was 
vetoed  by  the  President.  A  new  bill  was  prepared  with  a 
view  to  make  it  acceptable  to  the  President  ;  a  deputation 
having  been  sent  to  learn  what  kind  of  a  bill  he  would 
sanction.  It  was  reported  in  the  House,  and  passed,  125 
to  94.  It  passed  the  Senate,  27  to  22.  This  bill  also  was 


434  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

negatived.  Having  been  formed  with  special  reference  to 
his  wishes,  and  after  a  consultation  with  him  by  a  majority 
of  the  Cabinet,  a  second  veto  was  received  with  great  sur 
prise.  Two  days  after,  (Sept.  11,)  all  the  Cabinet  officers, 
except  Mr.  Webster,  (Secretary  of  State,)  sent  in  their  re 
signations.  Although  the  disrespect  shown  to  the  resign 
ing  Secretaries  may  have  justified  their  course  ;  yet  con 
sidered  as  a  matter  of  expediency,  it  is  believed  by  many 
to  have  been  ill-judged  ;  as  the  rupture  seriously  damaged 
the  party,  and  was  perhaps  the  cause  of  its  prostration. 

The  extra  session  having  been  called  to  consider  the 
finances  and  the  currency,  Congress  adjourned  immediately 
after  the  Bank  question  had  been  determined.  Several  im 
portant  laws,  however,  had  been  previously  passed  ;  one  of 
which  was  a  bankrupt  law,  rendered  necessary,  as  was 
supposed,  by  the  numerous  failures  produced  by  the  late 
revulsion  in  the  business  of  the  country. 

An  act  was  also  passed  to  distribute  among  the  States 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public  lands  ;  a  measure  which 
had  for  many  years  been  attempted  without  success.  As 
the  distribution  might  render  an  increase  of  duties  neces 
sary,  the  opponents  of  a  high  tariff  insisted  on  the  insertion 
of  a  condition,  that  if  Congress  should  increase  the  duties 
on  imports,  distribution  was  to  be  suspended,  until  the 
cause  of  the  suspension  should  cease. 

A  bill  was  also  passed,  authorizing  a  loan  of  twelve 
millions  of  dollars,  to  supply  the  deficiency  in  the 
Treasury. 

The  President,  in  his  Annual  Message  at  the  second 
(first  regular)  session  of  the  27th  Congress,  (December  7, 
1841,)  presented  another  plan  of  fiscal  agency  which,  he 
said,  was  free  from  constitutional  objections,  would  furnish 
a  sound  paper  medium,  and  facilitate  the  regulating  of  ex 
changes,  lie  also  called  attention  to  the  Tariff.  Congress 
might,  in  laying  duties  for  revenue,  discriminate  in  favor 
of  articles  tor  the  purpose  of  encouraging  their  manufac 
ture.  But  the  duties  should  not  be  so  augmented  as  to 
annul  the  land  proceeds  distribution  act  cf  the  extra  session. 

Several  schemes  of  finance  were  brought  forward,  among 
them  a  plan  for  a  "  National  Exchequer  ;"  but  none  of  them 
was  adopted. 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  135 

A  tariff  act,  however,  was,  after  a  tedious  contest,  passed 
near  the  close  of  a  very  protracted  session,  (August  27th, 
1842.)  Protection  had  been  a  Democratic  measure,  especi 
ally  had  it  been  the  policy  of  the  Democrats  of  the  North. 
It  had  also  been,  until  after  Gen.  Jackson's  election,  a  fa 
vorite  measure  of  his,  as  has  been  already  observed,  and 
as  appears  from  his  votes  in  the  Senate,  his  celebrated  let 
ter  to  Dr.  Coleman,  his  letter  to  Governor  Ray  of  Indiana, 
and  some  of  his  earlier  Annual  Messages.  But,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Slavery  question,  the  fortunes  of  the  party 
seemed  to  demand  a  union  with  the  South  upon  this  ques 
tion  also  ;  and  the  protective  policy,  which  had,  more  than 
any  other  measure,  contributed  to  our  national  prosperity, 
was  almost  entirely  abandoned  by  the  Democrats,  except  a 
portion  of  those  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  In  fact, 
protection  had  become  a  leading  and  distinct  party  issue. 

Two  bills  were  reported  in  the  House  ;  one  by  the  Com 
mittee  on  Manufactures,  Mr.  Saltonstall,  of  Mass.,  Chair 
man  ;  the  other  at  a  later  period  of  the  session,  by  Mr. 
Fillmore,  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  being  a 
bill  accompanying  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury,  (Mr.  Forward.)  The  latter  was  adopted  as  the  basis 
of  action  by  the  House.  'This  was  considered  as  more  par 
ticularly  a  revenue  bill. 

The  last  reduction  of  duties  under  the  Compromise  Act 
of  1833,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  to  take  place  after  the 
30th  of  June,  that  is,  on  the  1st  of  July,  1842.  And  the 
first  distribution  of  land  proceeds  under  the  act  of  the  pre 
ceding  session  was  also  to  be  made  the  1st  of  July.  As 
there  was  no  prospect  of  the  passage  of  the  tariff  bill  be 
fore  the  time  of  the  reduction  of  duties,  a  bill  had  been 
reported,  and  was  taken  up  the  10th  of  June,  to  extend  the 
time  for  the  distribution  to  the  1st  of  August,  with  a 
proviso,  that  nothing  therein  contained  should  suspend  the 
operation  of  the  distribution  law,  which  suspension,  it  will 
also  be  recollected,  was  to  take  place  whenever  the  duties 
should  be  raised.  This  temporary  bill  was  passed  by  the 
House,  116  to  103  ;  by  the  Senate,  24  to  19.  It  was  sent 
to  the  President,  and  returned  with  his  veto.  This  veto 
caused  great  rejoicing  by  Southern  members.  One  of  them, 
(Mr.  Holmes,  of  S.  C.,)  said  it  had  rescued  the  country 


136  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

from  impending  civil  war.  The  veto  message  was  then 
discussed  in  the  House  for  several  days,  when  (July  4th,) 
the  question  was  taken  upon  the  passage  of  the  bill,  not 
withstanding  the  veto  :  Ayes,  114  ;  noes,  91  ;  absent,  31. 
Rejected  ;  two-thirds  not  voting  in  the  affirmative. 

The  next  day,  the  House  again  took  up  the  tariff  or  rev 
enue  bill,  which  passed  the  House,  July  IGth,  116  to  112. 
It  provided  to  continue  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  land  sales,  notwithstanding  the  increase  of  duties.  It 
passed  the  Senate,  August  5th,  25  to  23  ;  a  party  vote. 
In  the  House,  only  one  Democrat,  Mr.  Parmenter,  of  Mass., 
voted  for  the  bill.  Against  it  were  16  Whigs,  all  but  one 
from  Southern  States.  In  the  Senate,  the  votes  in  its 
favor  were  all  from  Whigs  ;  against  it  were  three  Whigs, 
all  Southern.  This  bill  also  was  returned  by  the  Presi 
dent  with  a  i-do. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Adams,  the  Message  was  referred  to  a 
committee  of  thirteen,  who  made  a  report,  written  by  Mr. 
A.,  reviewing  the  condition  of  the  country,  the  action  of 
Congress,  the  frequent  application  of  the  veto,  and  the  rea 
sons  assigned.  It  animadverted  very  severely  upon  the 
acts  of  the  President,  charging  him  with  having  usurped 
the  whole  power  of  legislation.  The  report  concluded  with 
a  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
requiring,  instead  of  two-thirds,  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  members  of  each  House  to  pass  a  bill  against 
the  President's  objections.  It  was  signed  by  ten  of  the 
Committee. 

Constrained  by  the  necessity  of  increasing  the  revenue, 
a  bill,  the  same  as  the  former,  with  the  distribution  clause 
struck  out,  and  so  modified  as  to  admit  free  of  duty  tea 
imported  in  American  vessels  from  beyond  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  coffee,  was  a  few  days  after  passed  by  the 
House,  105  to  103.  It  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  where  it 
received  some  amendments,  (in  which  the  House  afterward 
concurred,)  and  was  passed,  (August  27th,)  24  to  23  ;  be 
ing  saved  by  Mr.  Wright's  voting  with  the  Whigs.  Proba 
bly  Mr.  W.  did  not  wish  to  incur  the  responsibility  of 
defeating  a  measure  for  revenue.  He  assigned  also  as  a 
reason,  that  "  this  measure  would  root  out  tne  germ  of  dis 
tribution."  The  bill  was  approved  by  the  President. 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  137 

A  separate  bill  was  then  passed,  repealing  the  proviso 
of  the  distribution  act,  so  as  to  allow  the  distribution  not 
withstanding  the  increase  of  duties  ;  but  the  bill  was 
retained  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  and  thus  defeated. 

The  disastrous  effects  of  Gen.  Jackson's  boasted  "  ar 
rangement  "  for  a  direct  trade  with  the  British  West 
India  Islands,  has  been  mentioned,  [page  81-4.]  Memorials 
from  the  State  of  Maine,  praying  for  relief,  were  presented 
at  this  session,  (1841-1842.)  Maine  had  had  ten  thousand 
tons  of  shipping  employed  in  the  trade  with  the  British 
North  American  Colonies  alone.  But  since  the  treaty  she 
had  been  driven  out  entirely,  while  the  shipping  of  the 
Colonies  had  increased  four-fold  ;  and  they  had  a  direct 
and  unembarrassed  trade  with  this  country.  One  petition 
declared  that  the  opening  of  our  ports  to  Great  Britain 
had  been  obtained  by  fraud.  She  had  promised  reciprocity, 
but  she  would  not  grant  it.  The  petitioners  prayed  that 
the  effect  of  the  President's  proclamation  in  1830,  making 
our  ports  free  to  Great  Britain,  be  done  away,  and  that 
the  navigation  acts  of  1818,  1820,  and  1828,  be  revived. 
The  petitions  were  received,  but  no  action  was  taken  upon 
the  subject. 

The  President's  connection  with  the  party  which  elected 
him  seems  to  have  been  dissolved  ;  and  the  South  again 
claimed  him  as  their  own.  Said  Mr.  Rhett,  of  S.  C.,  "  He 
is  a  Virginian— a  name  never  coupled  with  dishonor.  He 
is  now  at  the  head  of  the  Government,  and  being  in  favor 
of  the  institutions  of  the  South,  he  may  rest  assured  of  an 
earnest  and  substantial  support." 

The  rush  of  Anti-Slavery  petitions  to  Congress  was  un 
abated.  Most  of  them  were  presented  by  Mr.  Adams  and 
Mr.  Giddings.  The  views  of  Mr.  Adams  on  the  subject  of 
abolishing  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  were  for  a 
long  time  misapprehended.  He  was  not  an  Abolitionist, 
in  the  popular  sense  of  the  word.  He  zealously  and  faith 
fully  defended  the  right  of  petition  and  free  speech,  which 
the  slaveholders  and  their  Northern  Democratic  allies  in 
Congress  refused  ;  but  he  was  not  in  favor  of  abolition 
without  the  consent  of,  or  compensation  to,  the  owners  of 
slaves.  In  this  he  differed  from  Mr.  Giddings,  who  was  an 
unconditional  Abolitionist,  being  in  favor  of  immediate 


138  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

emancipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  other  United 
States  territory,  by  Congress,  and  in  the  States,  by  their 
respective  legislatures. 

Mr.  Adams,  at  this  session,  presented  a  petition  from 
forty-six  citizens  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  for  a  peaceable  dis 
solution  of  the  Union,  which  he  moved  to  a  Select  Commit 
tee,  with  instructions  to  report  an  answer  showing  reasons 
\vhy  the  prayer  should  not  be  granted.  This  excited  the 
indignation  of  Southern  members.  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Va., 
oflV'i-ed  a  resolution  declaring,  that,  in  presenting  a  petition 
for  tue  dissolution  of  the  Union,  Mr.  Adams  had  incurred 
the  censure  of  the  House.  Mr.  Marshall,  of  Ky.,  offered 
as  a  substitute  two  resolutions,  one  charging  him  with  an 
offense  involving,  in  its  consequences,  the  crime  of  high 
treason  ;  the  other  declaring  him  deserving  of  expulsion  ; 
but,  as  an  act  of  grace  and  mercy,  they  would  only  inflict 
upon  him  "  their  severest  censure,  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  own  purity  and  dignity." 

This  brought  on  a  debate  which  continued  about  two 
weeks.  Messrs.  Marshall,  Wise,  and  Adams,  were  for 
several  days  the  chief  participators.  Mr.  Underwood,  of 
Ky.,  Mr.  Botts,  of  Va.,  and  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Tenn.,  defended 
M:i  Adams,  and  opposed  the  resolutions.  Mr.  Saltonstall, 
of  Mass.,  gave  a  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
idea  of  dissolving  the  Union,  beginning  with  the  various 
threats  from  the  Southern  portion  of  tlio  Union — from  those 
opposed  to  a  tariff,  from  the  nullification  party,  &c.  He 
was  surprised  and  distressed  at  such  a  petition  fVom  his 
own  native  town  ;  but  eloquently  defended  Mr.  Adams 
from  the  charges  of  Mr.  Wisj. 

Mr.  Adams  occupied  the  floor  most  oHhc  time  during  sev 
eral  of  the  last  days  of  the  debate,  in  his  defense  ;  in  which 
he  fully  confirmed  his  title  to  the  name  of  the  "old  man 
eloquent."  He  was  unsparing  in  his  denunciations  of  the 
Slave  Power  for  its  opposition  to  liberty  of  speech  and  of 
the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition,  &c.  He  gavo  the  nul- 
lifiers  a  scathing  rebuke  for  seeking  to  punish  him  for  pre 
senting  a  petition  from  forty-five  of  his  constituents,  whose 
views  on  the  subject  involved  accorded  with  their  own. 
His  assailants  having  become  tired  of  the  discussion,  the 
subject  was,  on  motion,  laid  on  the  table,  10t>  to  93  ;  and 
the  reception  of  the  petition  was  refused,  40  to  106. 


TILER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  139 

Mr.  Giddings  presented  a  similar  petition  from  upwards 
of  eighty  of  his  constituents,  and  moved  its  reference  in 
the  same  manner  as  Mr.  Adams  had  moved  his.  The  recep 
tion  was  refused  :  Ayes,  24  ;  .noes,  116. 

Mr.  Giddings  also  submitted  a  series  of  resolutions  in 
relation  to  the  case  of  the  brig  Creole,  which,  in  October, 
1841,  left  Richmond  for  New  Orleans  with  a  cargo  of 
tobacco  and  slaves,  about  135  in  number,  who  rose  upon 
the  crew,  killed  a  man  on  board,  named  Hewell,  part 
owner  of  the  negroes,  and  severely  wounded  the  captain 
and  two  of  the  crew.  Having  obtained  command  of  the 
vessel,  they  directed  her  to  be  taken  into  the  port  of  Nas 
sau,  in  the  British  island  of  New  Providence.  Nineteen 
of  the  negroes  were  there  imprisoned  by  the  local  authori 
ties,  on  a  charge  of  mutiny  and  murder.  Their  surrender 
to  the  American  Consul  to  be  sent  to  the  United  States  for 
trial,  was  refused  until  the  advice  of  the  English  Govern 
ment  could  be  had.  A  correspondence  between  Mr.  Web 
ster,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Lord  Pahnerston  took  place. 
The  British  Government  maintained,  that  there  was  no 
international  law  by  which  we  could  claim,  or  they  give 
up,  the  men  who  had  taken  possession  of  the  Creole  ;  and 
orders  were  given  for  their  liberation. 

On  the  21st  of  March,  1842,  Mr.  Giddings  submitted  a 
series  of  resolutions,  declaring  that  jurisdiction  over 
Slavery  belonged  to  the  States  ;  that  the  States  had  sur 
rendered  to  the  Federal  Government  jurisdiction  over 
commerce  and  navigation  upon  the  high  seas  ;  that 
Slavery,  being  an  abridgment  of  the  natural  rights  of 
man,  can  exist  only  by  force  of  positive,  municipal  law,  and  is 
necessarily  confined  to  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the 
power  creating  it  ;  that  when  the  brig  Creole  left  the  ter 
ritorial  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  the  slave  laws  of  that 
State  ceased  to  have  jurisdiction  over  the  persons  on 
board,  who  became  amenable  only  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  who,  on  resuming  their  natural  rights 
of  personal  liberty,  violated  no  law  of  the  United  States  ; 
and  that  all  attempts  to  reensiave  the  said  persons,  or  to 
exert  our  influence  in  favor  of  the  coastwise  slave  trade, 
was  subversive  of  the  rights,  and  injurious  to  the  feelings 
arid  interests  of  the  Free  States,  unauthorized  by  the  Con 
stitution,  and  incompatible  with  our  national  honor. 


140  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

Mr.  Bolts,  of  Va.,  offered  a  resolution  declaring  the  con- 
duel  of  Mr.  Giddings  deserving  of  the  condemnation  of  the 
people  and  the  House.  After  an  exciting  debate  of  several 
days,  and  without  affording  him  an  opportunity  of  defense, 
the  resolution  of  censure  was  passed,  125  to  G9.  Mr.  Gid- 
dings  then  resigned,  returned  home,  was  reglected  by  a 
majority  of  about  3,500  votes,  and  returned  to  his  seat  in 
the  House  on  the  5th  of  May.  I 

The  annexation  of  Texas,  which  furnishes  a  conspicuous 
chapter  in  our  political  history,  was  clearly  a  Democratic 
measure,  showing  conclusively  the  identification  of  Dem 
ocracy  with  Slavery,  and  the  design  to  give  strength  and 
security  to  this  "  peculiar  institution." 

About  the  year  1834,  commenced  a  rapid  emigration 
from  the  South-Western  States  to  Texas,  then  a  province 
of  Mexico.  Although  slavery  had  been  abolished  by  Mex 
ico  soon  after  she  had  consummated  her  independence, 
these  emigrants  took  with  them  their  slaves  as  well  as  their 
rifles.  From  this  fact,  and  from  certain  declarations  of 
Southerners,  it  was  evident  that  at  least  one  object  of 
these  adventurers  was  the  reestaUishment  of  Slavery  in 
Texas.  In  aid  of  the  revolution,  troops  were  enlisted  in 
several  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  In  1835,  she  declared 
her  independence  ;  and  in  183ii,  the  revolution  was  com' 
plctcd  by  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  in  which  the  Mexican 
Dictator,  Santa  Anna,  was  captured,  who,  while  a  prisoner, 
and  under  restraint,  agreed  to  a  peace  on  the  basis  of  the 
independence  of  Texas  ;  a  bargain  which  he  had  no  power, 
and  probably  no  desire  to  carry  into  effect,  after  his  liber 
ation.  The  hasty  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas 
by  our  Government,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  President 
Jackson,  her  application  for  admission  into  the  Union,  and 
her  withdrawal  of  the  application,  have  been  noticed. 

The  South,  however,  had  not  abandoned  the  purpose  of 
annexation.  It  was  openly  declared  in  Southern  State 
Legislatures,  and  by  Southern  members  of  Congress,  to  be 
their  object,  by  this  measure,  to  give  protection  to  Slavery, 
which  would  be  furnished  by  "  an  equipoise  of  influence  in 
the  halls  of  Congress."  Said  Mr.  Wise,  a  confidential  friend 
of  President  Tyler,  on  the  floor  of  Congress  :  "  Let  one 
more  Northern  State  be  admitted,  and  the  equilibrium  is 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  141 

gone — gone  forever.  Let  the  South  stop  at  the  Sabine,  (the 
Eastern  boundary  of  Texas.)  while  the  North  may  spread 
unchecked  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the  Southern 
scale  must  kicJt  the  learn." 

President  Tyler,  in  his  Annual  Message,  December,  1813, 
suggested  a  forcible  interposition  to  put  an  end  to  the  war 
between  Texas  and  Mexico.  Arid  Texas  was  again  making 
movements  towards  annexation.  At  the  same  time  a 
secret  negotiation  was  going  on  between  the  two  Govern 
ments  for  this  purpose.  Mr.  Upshur,  Secretary  of  State, 
having  been  killed  by  the  explosion  of  the  gun  "  Peace 
maker,"  on  board  the  United  States  ship  Princeton,  he  was 
immediately  succeeded  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  concluded  the 
treaty  of  annexation  with  the  Texan  commissioners,  Van 
Zandt  and  Henderson,  on  the  12th  of  April,  1844.  The 
treaty  was  hastened  by  the  apprehension  that  Great 
Britain  was  about  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  the 
opponents  of  Slavery  in  Texas,  which  contemplated'  its 
abolition  in  Texas.  There  was,  however,  no  foundation 
for  such  apprehension.  Mr.  Everett,  our  Minister  in  Lon 
don,  having  been  written  to  on  the  subject,  answered,  that 
he  had  been  told  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  that  "  the  suggestion 
that  England  had  made,  or  intended  to  make,  the  abolition 
of  Slavery  the  condition  of  any  treaty  arrangement  with 
Texas,  was  wholly  without  foundation."  It  was  believed 
that  the  information  which  had  given  a  new  impulse  to 
the  annexation  movement,  had  been  manufactured  for  the 
occasion. 

On  taking  the  question  on  the  ratification  of  the  treaty, 
(June  8th,)  a  majority  of  two-thirds  being  necessary,  only 
16  Senators  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  25  in  the  nega 
tive.  Messrs.  Buchanan  and  Sturgeon,  of  Pa.,  Breese,  of 
111.,  and  Woodbury,  of  N.  II.,  all  Democrats,  voted  for  the 
treaty.  Of  the  Democrats  from  Free  States  who  voted 
against  the  treaty,  were,  Messrs.  Fairrield,  of  Maine  ; 
Atherton,  of  N.  H.  ;  Niles,  of  Con.  ;  Wright,  of  N.  Y.  ; 
Allen  and  Tappan,  of  Ohio  ;  and  Mr.  Benton,  of  Mo.,  a 
Slave  State.  Some  of  the  latter,  however,  perhaps  most 
or  all  of  them,  were  not  opposed  to  annexation,  considered 
as  an  abstract  question.  But  they  feared,  as  the  result,  a 
war  with  Mexico.  Texas  claiming  disputed  territory,  our 


142  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Government  would,  if  Texas  should  be  received,  be  com 
pelled  to  defend  the  .claim  against  Mexico.  Annexation 
was  also  held,  by  some  of  our  statesmen,  to  be  unconsti 
tutional. 

Mr.  Benton  spoke  on  three  successive  daj-s  against  the 
treaty,  and  in  support  of  his  resolutions,  which  declared  : 

1st.  That  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  would  be  the  adop 
tion  of  the  war  with  Mexico.  2d.  That  the  treaty-making 
power  does  not  extend  to  the  power  of  making  war,  and  that 
the  President  and  Senate  have  no  right  to  make  war,  either 
by  declaration  or  adoption.  3d.  That  Texas  ought  to  be 
reunited  to  the  American  Union,  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done 
with  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  of  Texas,  and  when  Mexico  shall  cither  consent 
to  the  same,  or  acknowledge  the  independence  of  Texas, 
or  cease  to  prosecute  the  war  against  her  on  a  scale  cqm- 
mensurate  with  the  conquest  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Benton  contended  that  the  treaty  proposed  to  annex 
much  more  territory  than  originally  belonged  to  Texas  ; 
and  therefore  the  proposition  for  the  "  rednne.ration  of 
Teras"  was  a  fraud  in  words.  It  was  not  pretended,  even 
by  those  who  used  that  word,  that  the  province  of  Texas, 
when  it  was  ceded  in  1819  to  Spain,  extended  further  than 
the  boundaries  included  between  the  Sabine  and  the  Rio 
del  Norte,  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Red  River  ; 
whilst  the  Republic  of  Texas,  as  defined  in  the  treaty, 
included  the  whole  extent  of  the  Rio  del  Norte,  and 
embraced  portions  of  the  department  of  New  Mexico  wirh 
its  capital,  being  many  hundreds  of  miles  of  a  neighbor's 
dominion,  with  whom  we  had  treaties  of  friendship  and 
commerce — a  territory  where  no  Texan  force  had  ever 
penetrated,  and  including  towns  and  villages  and  custom 
houses  now  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  Mexico. 

After  the  treaty  was  rejected,  Mr.  Benton  brought  in  a 
bill  which  authorized  and  advised  the  President  to  open 
negotiations  with  Mexico  and  Texas  for  adjusting  bound 
aries,  and  annexing  Texas  to  the  United  States. 

The  President's  scheme  of  annexation  by  treaty  having 
failed,  he  appealed  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  a 
Message,  inviting  their  attention  to  the  subject,  urging,  as 
a  reason,  that  annexation  would  be  endangered  if  some 


143 

thing  were  not  done  at  once.  He  preferred  annexation  by 
treaty  ;  but  if  Congress  should  see  fit  to  adopt  some  other 
plan,  he  would  yield  his  prompt  cooperation.  The  Message 
was  communicated  at  too  late  a  day  to  be  acted  upon  at 
this  session.  And  a  Presidential  election  was  to  take 
place  before  the  next  session,  which  closed  with  the  official 
term  of  Mr.  Tyler. 

Public  sentiment  had  designated  Mr.  Van  Buren  and 
Mr.  Clay  as  rival  candidates  for  the  Presidency.'  The 
Whig  Convention  was  to  meet  at  Baltimore  on  the  1st  of 
May,  1844  ;  the  Democratic  on  the  27th,  at  the  same 
place.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  had  been  requested  to 
express  their  opinions  on  the  question  of  the  annexation 
of  Texas  ;  and  both  complied  with  the  request,  in  letters 
of  great  length. 

Mr.  Clay  said  :  "  If,  without  the  loss  of  national  charac 
ter,  without  the  .hazard  of  foreign  war,  with  the  general 
concurrence  of  the  nation,  without  an}'  danger  to  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Union,  and  without  giving  an  unreasonable 
price  for  Texas,  the  question  of  annexation  were  presented, 
it  would  appear  in  quite  a  different  light  from  that  in 
which,  I  apprehend,  it  is  now  to  be  regarded."  He  said 
the  revolt  had  been  greatly  aided  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  in  a  manner  and  to  an  extent  which  brought  upon 
us  the  reproach  of  an  impartial  world  ;  and  we  ought  not 
to  give  occasion  for  the  imputation  of  having  instigated 
or  aided  the  revolution  with  a  view  to  territorial  aggran 
dizement.  He  would  not  involve  the  country  in  a  war  for 
the  acquisition  of  Texas.  He  discountenanced  the  motive 
of  acquiring  territory  to  strengthen  one  part  of  the  Union 
against  another. 

The  letter,  of  course,  was  not  entirely  satisfactory  to 
ultra  slaveholding  Wings,  because  it  did  not  sufficiently 
favor  their  interests  ;  nor  did  it  fully  express  the  views  of 
Northern  Whigs,  because  it  did  not  in  terms  deprecate  tho 
extension  of  Slavery.  Yet  the  latter,  because  he  was  op 
posed  to  it  for  other  though  less  weighty  reasons,  rendered 
him  generally  acceptable  to  his  party  in  the  North. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  his  letter,  discusses  the  subject  of  an 
nexation  at  great  length.  He  had,  as  Secretary  of  State, 
by  direction  of  President  Jackson,  instructed  our  Minister 


144  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

at  Mexico  to  open  a  negotiation  with  the  Mexican  Govern 
ment  for  the  purchase  of  the  greater  part  of  the  then  pro 
vince  of  Texas.  Gen.  Jackson's  administration  had  thus 
renewed  an  attempt  to  accomplish  the  samo  object  which 
had  been  made  by  its  predecessor.  Mr.  Adams,  however, 
had,  in  1827,  proposed  an  acquisition  of  territory  as  far 
West  as  the  Rio  del  Norte,  the  extreme  Western  boundary 
of  Texas  ;  whilst  the  cession  asked  for  by  President 
Jackson  extended  only  as  far  as  the  desert  or  grand  prairie, 
which  lies  East  of  the  river  Nueces.  Both  authorized 
agreements  for  smaller  portions  of  territory  ;  and  the  pay 
ments  were  modified  accordingly. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  discussed  the  constitutional  power  to 
annex  Texas.  Congress  only  has  the  power  to  admit  new 
States;  hence  Texas,  if  annexed  by  treaty,  must  be  ac 
quired  as  a  Territory.  In  this  way  only,  if  at  all,  could  it 
be  done  constitutionally.  The  acquisition  by  treaty, 
palpable  as  its  unconstitutionality  had  been  deemed,  had 
the  sanction  of  precedent  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana. 
Desirable  as  the  acquisition  was,  yet,  being  wholly  at 
variance  with  the  spirit  of  our  treaty  of  amity  and  com 
merce  with  Mexico,  and  implying  a  disposition  to  espouse 
the  quarrel  of  Texas  with  Mexico,  he  could  not  favor  an 
nexation  under  existing  circumstances.  Said  he  :  "  We 
shall  act  under  the  eye  of  an  intelligent,  observing  world." 
And  in  reference  to  the  probabilities  of  provoking  a  war 
with  Mexico  by  the  measure,  he  said  :  "  Could  we  hope  to 
stand  justified  in  the  eyes  of  mankind  for  entering  into  it ; 
more  especially  if  its  commencement  is  to  be  preceded  by 
the  appropriation  to  our  own  use  of  territory,  the  sover 
eignty  of  which  is  in  dispute  between  two  nations,  one  of 
which  we  are  to  join  in  the  struggle  ?"  We  were  liable, 
said  Mr.  Van  B.,  to  be  misled  by  the  fact,  that  most  of  the 
Texans  were  onco  our  fellow-citizens,  and  had  still  their 
relatives  and  friends  amongst  us.  Yet,  he  says  :  "  Nothing 
is  either  more  true  or  more  extensively  known,  than  that 
Texas  was  wrested  from  Mexico,  and  h:r  independence,  established, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  citizens  of  the  United  States" 

This  letter  was  unpalatable  to  the  South  ;  and  move 
ments  were  soon  made  in  many  places  to  prevent  his 
nomination.  In  some  of  the  Northern  States,  the  "  Dem- 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  145 

ocracy n  protested  against  these  Southern  movements  to 
defeat  Mr.  Van  Buren.  But  protests  were  unavailing  ;  and 
he  had  himself,  for  the  harmony  of  the  party,  authorized 
the  withdrawal  of  his  name,  if  it  should  become  necessary. 

Mr.  Clay  was  nominated  without  a  ballot — by  acclama 
tion.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  was,  on  the  third  ballot,  nomina 
ted  for  Vice-Preside nt. 

Jn  the  Democratic  Convention,  Mr.  Van  Buren  received 
a  clear  majority  on  the  first  ballot  ;  having  146  votes  ; 
Mr.  Cass,  83  ;  K.  M.  Johnson,  24  ;  Mr.  Calhoun,  6  ;  arid  t 
for  others.  Two-thirds  were  necessary  to  nominate.  On 
the  eighth  ballot,  Mr.  Van  Buren  received  101  ;  Mr.  Cass, 
114  ;  James  K.  Polk, 44.  Mr.  Van  Buren's  name  having 
been  withdrawn,  on  the  next  ballot  the  vote  was  unanimous 
for  Mr.  Polk.  Probably  to  ease  New  York,  Silas  Wright, 
Senator  in  Congress  from  that  State,  then  at  Washington, 
was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  of  which-  Mr.  W.  was 
informed  by  telegraph.  Declining  the  nomination,  George 
M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  nominated. 

Although  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Democratic  party 
had  been  opposed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  had 
concurred  with  their  leader,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  the  views 
expressed  in  his  anti-Texas  letter  ;  yet,  in  conformity  with 
an  established  rule  for  which  that  party  is  rioted,  they  sup 
ported  Mr.  Polk  with  their  wonted  zeal.  The  questions  at 
issue  between  the  parties  were  :  a  protective  tariff,  annex 
ation,  and  the  Oregon  question.  [For  the  information  of 
some  readers,  it  may  be  necessary  to  state,  that  there  was 
a  dispute  between  our  Government  and  that  of  Great 
Britain,  as  to  the  true  boundary  line  between  their  terri 
torial  possessions  on  the  Pacific  ;  the  latter  claiming  South 
to  the  49th  degree  of  North  latitude  ;  and  ours  as  far 
North  as  54  degrees  and  40  minutes.  And  the  Democratic 
Convention  had,  in  one  of  their  resolutions,  adopted  at 
Baltimore,  declared  that  they  would  insist  on  having  "  the 
whole  of  Oregon,  or  none."  Whereas  our  Government  had 
previously  proposed  the  49th  degree  as  a  boundary.] 

Not  only  were  Northern  Democrats  ready  to  make  full 
concession  to  the  South  on  the  question  of  extending 
Slavery  ;  they  were  equally  ready  to  surrender  the  pro- 
tectivo  policy.  To  those  who  were  ignorant  (if  such  there 


146  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

were)  of  the  [seven]  principles  of  that  party,  (the  five 
loaves  and  two  fishes,)  it  would  have  seemed  strange  to 
see  men — statesmen — who  had  grown  grey  during  a  long 
advocacy  of  the  protection  of  home  industry,  now  on  the 
rostrum  defending  the  Southern  theory  of  leaving  Ameri 
can  labor  subject  to  foreign  legislation.  The  Middle  and 
Western  States,  which  had  been  nearly  unanimous  in 
favor  of  the  protective  principle,  had,  since  Gen.  Jackson's 
second  election,  gradually  abandoned  it ;  and  their  leading 
men  were  now  using  the  same  arguments  which  John  0. 
Calhoun  and  his  adherents  had  for  many  years  employed 
against  a  policy  to  which  the  country  was  mainly  indebted 
for  its  prosperity. 

We  have  noticed  the  general  and  protracted  distress 
under  the  operation  of  President  Jackson's  currency  meas 
ures  and  the  non-protecting  tariff  act  of  183o,  which 
reached  its  lowest  point  in  1842.  And  we  have  mentioned 
the  passage  of  the  act  of  1842,  designed  both  for  revenue 
and  protection.  It  had  been  urged  against  its  passage, 
that  it  would  fail  as  a  revenue  measure,  because  the  in 
creased  duties  would  so  diminish  importations,  as  to  pro 
duce  less  revenue  than  the  low  duties  were  yielding  ;  and 
that  the  high  duties  would  be  oppressive  to  the  people, 
especially  the  poorer  classes,  who  would  be  compelled  to 
pay  higher  prices  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

But  these  predictions  had  signally  failed,  as  they  had 
'always  failed  before.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had 
estimated  the  wants  of 'the  Treasury  at  26  or  27  millions, 
and  had  prepared  this  bill  with  that  view.  Under  the  last 
year  of  the  compromise  act  previous  to  the  operation  of 
the  act  of  1842,  the  revenue  from  imports  was  only  about 
one-half  that  amount  ;  whereas,  during  the  first  three 
years  after  the  time  of  its  having  gone  fully  into  effect,  the 
average  receipts  were  $26,808,097,  being  almost  the  pre 
cise  sum  estimated  I  And  even  before  it  went  into  effect, 
preparations  for  manufacturing,  for  mining,  and  other 
branches  of  industry,  began  to  revive.  Dismissed  work 
men  in  all  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  portions  of 
the  country  again  found  remunerative  employment.  Let 
any  one  refer  to  the  papers  of  that  day,  and  he  will  sec 
how  remarkably  the  industry  of  the  country  was  revived. 


TYLER'S  ADMINISTRATION.  147 

Importations,  instead  of  having  fallen  off  as  had  been  pre 
dicted,  maintained  about  the  average  of  former  years,  be 
cause  the  people  again  had  the  means  of  purchasing.  And 
as  to  prices,  they  had,  within  the  first  year  after  the  act 
went  into  effect,  fallen  much  below  those  which  the  "  poor 
laborer  "  had  paid  when  half  the  time  out  of  employ,  or 
receiving  half  as  high  a  price  for  his  labor.  I  have  before 
me  a  list,  prepared  by  merchants  of  the  city  of  Richmond, 
Va.,  of  the  prices  of  staple  goods  in  that  city  for  the  years 
1841  and  1843,  the  year  before  and  the  year  after  the  {fas- 
sage  of  the  act  of  1842,  showing  a  reduction  of  from  10  to 
more  than  30  per  cent.  Imports  of  specie  were  also  largely 
increased,  and  the  rates  of  interest  greatly  reduced.  In 
the  face  of  all  these  and  other  facts,  Democratic  speakers 
at  every  meeting  declaimed  loudly  against  this  "  oppres 
sive  "  tariff,  and  thus  doped  multitudes  of  their  hearers, 
who,  at  the  ensuing  election,  voted  for  a  President  and 
members  of  Congress,  by  whom  this  policy  which  had  so 
signally  benefitted  the  country,  was  overthrown,  and  a 
system  established  which  eventually  resulted  in  the 
"crash "of  1857 — a  result  similar  to  that  produced  by 
every  other  non-protecting  tariff. 

In  the  tariff  State  of  Pennsylvania,  a  downright  swindle 
was  practised  upon  the  friends  of  protection  ;.  a  large  por 
tion  of  whom  were  ignorant  of  the  views  of  .Mr.  Polk  on 
this  question.  He  had,  in  1842,  when  a  candidate  for  Gov 
ernor  in  Tennessee,  written  a  letter  for  publication,  ad 
dressed  to  the  people  of  that  State,  in  which  he  said  :  "  I 
had  steadily,  during  the  period  I  was  a  -Representative  in 
Congress,  been  opposed  to  a  protective,  policy,  as  my  recorded 
votes  and  public  speeches  prove.  Since  1  retired  from  Con 
gress,  I  had  held  the  same  opinion.  In  the  present  canvass 
for  Governor  I  had  avowed  my  opposition  to  the  tariff  act 
of  the  late  Whig  Congress"— the  act  of  1842.  Yet  his 
friends  were  now,  (1844,)  circulating  a  letter  through  the 
Democratic  papers  of  Pennsylvania,  written  by  him  to 
Judge  Kane,  of  that  State,  representing  himself  as  in  favor 
of  a  reasonable  protection  to  home  industry.  And  to  give  greater 
effect  to  the  fraud,  the  motto  inscribed  on  the  party  banners 
in  a  large  portion  of  the  State,  was  :  "  Polk,  Dallas,  and 
the  Tariff  of  1842  !"  The  ticket  was  voted  for  by  the  hon* 


148  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

cst  but  deluded  Pennsylvanians  ;  who  gave  that  State  to 
the  Democratic  candidate,  who,  with  the  help  of  a  Demo 
cratic  Congress,  broke  down  the  policy  which  they  had 
supposed  they  were  supporting  by  voting  for  him.  Somo 
Democratic  papers  even  had  the  effrontery  to  represent  Mr. 
Clay  as  being  opposed  to  the  protective  policy  1 

Some  of  Mr.  Clay's  Southern  friends  were  in  favor  of  an- 
Dexation,  and  feared  his  election  would  jeopard  that 
measure.  In  his  answer  to  a  letter  from  that  section,  he 
said  :  "  Personally  I  could  have  no  objection  to  the  annex 
ation  of  Texas  ;  but  I  certainly  would  be  unwilling  to  see 
the  existing  Union  dissolved  or  seriously  jeoparded  for  the 
sake  of  acquiring  Texas."  The  Abolitionists,  or  "  third 
party"  men,  seized  upon  the  expression,  "  Personally  I  could 
have  no  objection  to  annexation,"  and  used  it  to  represent 
him  as  favorable  to  that  measure.  One-third  of  the  votes 
given  for  the  Birney  electoral  ticket,  in  the  State  of  New 
York  alone,  if  given  for  that  of  the  Whigs,  would  have  se 
cured  the  election  of  Mr.  Clay.  Possibly  Texas  might  have 
been  annexed  during  the  next  Presidential  term,  even  had 
Mr.  Clay  been  elected  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  unpro 
voked,  unnecessary,  disgraceful,  aggressive  war  of  conquest 
against  Mexico  for  the  benefit  of  the  Slave  Power,  would  not  have 
occurred. 

Of  the  electors  chosen  in  November,  170  voted  for  Polk 
and  Dallas  ;  and  105  for  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen. 

The  great  measure  of  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
(1844-1845,)  was  the  annexation  of  Texas.  President 
Tyler  again  urged  it  upon  Congress.  lie  regarded  the  re- 
Cent  election  as  the  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people  in 
favor  of  immediate  annexation.  In  the  Soriate,  Mr.  M'Duffio 
introduced  resolutions  declaring  the  rejected  treaty  to  be  a 
"fundamental  law  of  union  between  the  United  States  and 
Texas,  when  the  authorities  of  Texas  shall  agree  to  tho 
same."  Mr.  Ben  ton  gave  notice  of  a  bill  "  to  provide  for 
the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,"  similar  to 
that  introduced  by  him  at  the  preceding  session.  This  bill 
advised  negotiation  for  the  adjustment  of  boundaries.  la 
the  House,  C.  J.  Ingcrsoll,  from  the  Committee  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  reported  resolutions  for  annexation,  which,  after 


H9 

having  been  amended,  were  adopted.  They  provided  that 
questions  of  boundary  that  might  arise  should  be  laid  be 
fore  Congress.  The  United  States  were  not  to  become 
liable  for  the  debts  of  Texas  ;  but  she  was  to  retain  all  the 
public  funds,  debts,  taxes,  and  dues  owing  to  the  Republic  ; 
and  all  vacant  lands.  And  new  States  not  exceeding  four, 
in  addition  to  the  State  of  Texas,  might  be  formed  out  of 
the  territory  thereof ;  the  States  to  be  admitted,  with  or 
without  Slavery,  as  the  people  might  desire  ;  but  North  of 
36  degrees  and  30  minutes,  Slavery  was  to  be  prohibited. 

The  resolutions  were  finally  passed,  120  to  98.  Aa 
classified  by  Niles,  of  the  120  who  voted  in  the  affirmative, 
112  were  Democrats,  53  from  Free,  and  59  from  Slave 
States  ;  the  other  8  were  Whigs,  all  from  Slave  States. 
Of  the  98  who  voted  in  the  negative,  28  were  Democrats, 
all  from  Free  States  ;  and  70  were  Whigs,  52  from  Free, 
and  18  from  Slave  States. 

Another  classification  was  as  follows  :  The  number  of 
Democrats  voting  was  140  ;  from  Free  States,  81  ;  from 
Slave  States,  59.  Of  the  81,  53  were  for,  and  28  against 
annexation.  The  number  of  Whigs  voting  was  78  ;  52 
from  Free,  and  26  from  Slave  States.  Of  the  latter,  8  were 
for,  and  18  against  the  bill.  The  59  Democrats  from  the 
Slave  States,  all  voted  for  the  bill,  and  the  52  Whigs  from 
the  Free  States,  all  voted  against  it. 

The  resolutions  adopted  by  the  House  were  amended  in 
the  Senate,  by  adding  a  resolution,  leaving  it  to  the  dis 
cretion  of  the  President,  either  to  submit  the  resolutions  as 
an  overture  to  Texas  for  admission,  or  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
for  that  purpose.  The  resolutions  were  ordered  to  a  third 
reading,  27  to  25,  all  the  Senators  being  present.  The 
amendment  of  the  Senate  was  concurred  in  by  the  House, 
132  to  76.  So  the  triumph  of  annexation  was  complete,  as  it 
is  not  probable  that  either  Mr.  Tyler  or  Mr.  Polk  would  have 
jeoparded  the  measure  by  negotiation.  It  was  said,  how 
ever,  that  Messrs.  Benton  and  Bagby  without  whoso  votes 
the  resolutions  would  have  been  lost,  voted  for  them  from 
their  confidence  that  Mr  Polk,  upon  whom  it  was  supposed 
the  choice  would  devolve,  would  elect  this  mode  But  Mr. 
Tyler  seized  upon  the  last  moment  of  his  official  exist- 


150  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

encc,  to  exercise,  himself,  the    power  conferred  by  tlic^ 
resolutions.  • 

The  question  of  annexation,  relieved  from  all  doubt  as  to 
its  constitutionality,  and  from  all  apprehensions  of  diffi 
culty  with  Mexico,  would  probably  have  received  the  votes 
of  nearly  all  the  Democrats  in  both  Houses. 


POLK'S   ADMINISTRATION.  151 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Administration  of  James  K.  Polk. 

JAMES  K.  POLK  was  inaugurated  as  President,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1845.  As  was  naturally  expected,  the  sub 
jects  of  Slavery  and  Annexation  found  a  place  in  his  Ad 
dress.  He  deprecated  interference  with  certain  "  domestic 
institutions"  as  an  "  attempt  to  disturb  or  destroy  the  com 
promises  of  the  Constitution,"  which  must  "  lead  to  the 
most  ruinous  and  disastrous  consequences."  He  regretted, 
"  that  in  some  sections  of  our  country,  misguided  persons 
had  indulged  in  schemes  and  agitations  ;  whose  object  was 
the  destruction  of  domestic  institutions  in  other  sections." 
These  schemes  he,  as  a  true  Southerner,  was  pleased  to 
call  "moral  treason."  Respecting  the  Tariff  he  said  :  "Jus 
tice  and  sound  policy  forbid  the  Federal  Government  to 
foster  one  branch  of  industry  to  the  detriment  of  another, 
or  to  cherish  the  interests  of  one  portion  to  the  injury  of 
another  portion  of  our  common  country."  He  congratulated 
the  country  on  the  reunion  of  Texas  to  the  United  States. 
The  annexation  was  "  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  con 
quest  of  a  nation  seeking  to  extend  her  dominions  by  arms 
and  violence,  but  as  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  territory 
once  her  own."  He  also  reasserted  "  our  title  to  the  coun 
try  of  the  Oregon  to  be  '  clear  and  unquestionable/  "  and 
pledged  himself  "  to  maintain,  by  all  constitutional  means, 
the  right  of  the  United  States  to  that  portion  of  our 
territory." 

Mr.  Polk  chose  for  his  Cabinet  :  James  Buchanan,  of  Pa., 
Secretary  of  State  ;  Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Miss.,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  ;  Wm.  L.  Marcy,  of  N.  Y.,  Secretary  of 
War  ;  George  Bancroft,  of  Mass.,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ; 
Cave  Johnson,  of  Tenn.,  Postmaster-General  ;  John  Y.  Ma 
son,  of  Va.,  Attorney-General. 


152  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

On  the  Cth  of  March,  six  days  after  the  date  of  the  act 
of  annexation,  the  Mexican  Minister  protested  against  the 
dismemberment  of  Texas  from  Mexican  territory,  and  de 
clared  the  purpose  of  Mexico  to  enforce  her  right  to  recover 
the  territory  ;  and  he  gave  notice  of  the  termination  of  his 
mission,  and  asked  for  his  passports.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
news  of  annexation  at  the  city  of  Mexico,  diplomatic 
relations  between  the  two  Governments  were  there  also 
terminated. 

Early  in  the  summer,  President  Jones,  of  Texas,  laid  be 
fore  the  Toxan  Congress  a  proposition  from  the  Mexican 
Government,  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  Texas, 
upon  three  conditions  :  (1.)  Texas  not  to  annex  herself  or 
become  subject  to  any  other  country.  (2  )  Limits  and 
other  arrangements  to  be  matters  of  agreement  in  tho  final 
treaty.  (3.)  Texas  to  consent  to  refer  the  disputed  points 
with  regard  to  territory  arid  other  matters,  to  the  arbitra 
tion  of  umpires.  But  the  proposition  was  rejected  ;  and 
resolutions  were  adopted  accepting  the  terms  of  annexation 
to  the  United  States.  This  acceptance  was,  in  July,  rati 
fied  by  the  people  of  Texas  in  Convention. 

Mexico  considered  annexation  an  act  of  war,  and  declared 
her  intention  to  resent  the  injury,  and  to  resort  to  arms. 
At  the  request  of  the  Congress  and  the  people  of  Texas,  our 
Government  sent  an  army  into  that  territory  to  defend  it 
against  invasion.  The  army  was  ordered  to  tako  position 
between  the  Nueccs  arid  the  Del  Norte.  A  strong  squad 
ron  was  sent  to  the  coast  of  Mexico,  as  a  precautionary 
measure. 

Several  installments  of  the  Mexican  indemnity  were  due  ; 
arid  claims  of  more  than  three  millions  had  been  recognized 
by  a  treaty,  which  the  Mexican  Government  had  not  yet 
ratified.  Mexico  having  consented  to  renew  diplomatic 
relations,  a  Minister,  (Mr.  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,)  was  sent 
with  full  power  to  settle  all  difficulties.  His  reception, 
however,  was  refused,  on  the  ground  of  the  inadequacy  of 
his  special  power  to  treat  upon  the  questions  which  the 
Mexican  Government  intended  to  make  the  subject  of  nego 
tiation.  It  would  recognize  him  only  for  the  purpose  of 
treating  in  relation  to  Texas  and  the  boundary. 

Gen.   Taylor,  having  been  with    his  troops  at  Corpus 


153 

Christi  from  August  to  January,  ar.d  no  hostile  act  having 
been  committed  by  the  Mexicans,  was  ordered,  in  January, 
1846,  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  (Rio  del  Norte,) 
where  he  arrived  with  a  company  of  dragoons,  (in  advance 
of  the  main  army,)  on  the  24th  of  March.  He  was  met  by 
a  deputation  of  30  or  40  men,  with  a  message  from  Gen. 
Mcjia,  a  Mexican  commander,  protesting  against  the  inva 
sion.  On  the  approach  of  the  fleet  of  transports,  the  cus 
tom-house  at  Point  Isabel,  and  a  few  other  buildings,  were 
burnt  by  the  Mexican  commandant.  On  the  28th,  the  army 
of  occupation,  consisting  of  about  3,500  men,  arrived. 
About  one  month  thereafter,  hostilities  commenced. 

On  the  llth  of  May,  1846,  the  President  sent  to  Congress 
a  Message,  announcing  a  state  of  war,  commenced  on  the 
part  of  Mexico,  whose  Government,  he  said,  "  after  a  long- 
continued  series  of  menaces,  had  at  last  invaded  our  terri 
tory,  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  fellow-citizens  on  our  own 
soil."  And  he  asked  Congress  to  recognizo  the  existence 
of  the  war,  and  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  the 
means  of  prosecuting  it.  A  bill  to  raise  the  necessary  men 
and  $10,000,000  was  immediately  reported  in  the  House, 
and  passed,  142  to  14.  The  next  morning  it  passed  the 
Senate  with  slight  amendments,  40  to  2,  and  was  returned 
to  the  House  the  same  evening,  which  repassed  it  the  next 
day  with  the  Senate's  amendments.  It  was  sent  to  the 
President,  who  signed  it,  and  issued  the  war  Proclamation 
the  same  day. 

The  Whig  members  were  in  a  dilemma.  They  believed 
the  war  to  be  unjust  on  the  part  of  our  Government,  having 
been  caused  by  the  dismemberment  of  a  part  of  the  terri 
tory  of  Mexico.  The  President's  ordering  the  army  into 
Mexican  territory,  was  an  act  of  war,  tantamount  to  a  de 
claration  of  war,  which  the  Constitution  devolved  upon 
Congress.  Many,  however,  in  accordance  with  the  popular 
sentiment,  that,  however  unjust  a  war  may  be,  it  must  be 
supported,  voted  for  the  btll  ;  others,  because  it  would  ren 
der  a  man  unpopular  to  vote  against  a  war.  But  the  most 
objectionable  part  of  it  was  the  preamble,  which  declared 
the  war  to  exist  by  the  act  of  the.  Republic  of  Mexico.  This 
declaration  was  positively  untrue.  Our  army  was  the  in 
vader.  It  was  on  Mexican  soil  that  the  blood  had  been  shed, 


154  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

and  not  on  ours,  as  the  President  had  declared.  Hence,  to 
vote  for  the  bill  was  to  vote  for  what  was  believed  to  be 
false.  In  the  Senate,  a  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  the 
preamble  ;  but  it  was  lost,  18  to  28.  The  Democrats  were 
determined  to  compel  the  Whigs  to  indorse  the  statement 
of  the  President,  and  thus  to  cover  up  the  iniquity  of  the 
project.  Some  voted  under  protest,  and  others  refused  to 
vote  at  all.  Thomas  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  and  John  Davis, 
of  Massachusetts,  (often  called  "honest  John  Davis,") 
voted  in  the  negative.  The  members  of  the  House  who 
voted  in  the  negative,  were,  Messrs.  Adams,  Ashrnun,  Grin- 
nell,  Hudson,  and  King,  of  Mass.  ;  Severance,  of  Maine  ; 
Cranston,  of  It.  I.  ;  Culver,  of  N.  Y.  ;  Strohm,  of  Pa.  ;  Gid- 
dings,  Root,  Tilden,  and  Vance,  of  Ohio. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1846,  the  President  informed  the 
Senate  that  he  had  resolved  to  propose  to  open  a  negotia 
tion  with  Mexico,  and  asked  of  Congress  money  to  enable 
him  to  negotiate  a  peace.  The  object  for  which  the  money 
was  wanted,  was  to  purchase  territory,  if  it  should  be 
deemed  expedient.  A  bill  appropriating  $2,000,000  for  this 
purpose  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  promptly  put  on  its  passage,  when  Mr.  Wilinot,  of  Pa., 
a  Democrat,  moved  a  proviso,  which  was  carried,  declaring 
that  in  any  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  Slavery  should 
never  be  permitted.  The  bill,  with  the  proviso,  passed  the 
House  ;  but  for  want  of  time,  the  Senate  carne  to  no  con 
clusion  on  the  subject  at  this  session. 

The  proviso  was  carried  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  by 
a  vote  83  to  C4  ;  only  3  members  (Democrats)  from  Frco 
States,  it  was  said,  opposing  it.  [Individual  votes  are  not 
recorded  in  Committee  of  the  Whole.]  The  bill  with  the 
proviso,  was  engrossed  for  its  third  reading,  85  to  80. 

In  his  Message  to  Congress  in  December,  1840,  the  Presi 
dent  adverted  to  the  wrongs  committed  by  Mexico,  and  the 
causes  of  the  war  ;  declared  its  justice  on  our  part,  our 
disposition  to  peace,  and  our  right  to  annex  Texas  ;  aud 
again  charged  Mexico  with  having  invaded  our  soil — as 
serting  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  Texas  to  the  Rio 
Grande,  in  opposition  to  Messrs.  Benton,  Wright,  Adams, 
and  others. 

A   bill    wo.s    again    introduced    appropriating    money, 


155 

($3,000,000,)  to  aid  in  negotiating  a  peace  with  Mexico. 
It  passed  the  House  with  the  "  Wilmot  proviso,"  115  to 
110,  after  an  ineffectual  motion  of  Mr.  Douglas  to  amend 
by  prohibiting  Slavery  in  acquired  territory  North  of  36 
deg.  30  min.  A  similar  bill  passed  the  Senate,  in  which 
body  the  proviso  had  been  rejected.  This  bill  was  sent  to 
the  House,  the  proviso  attached  in  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
but  afterward  rejected  .in  the  House,  97  to  102  ;  and  the 
bill  finally  passed  without  the  proviso. 

The  debate  on  this  bill  in  the  Senate  was  deeply  inter 
esting  as  well  as  animated.  Many  Senators  participated. 
The  collision  between  Messrs,  Benton  and  Calhoun  might 
be  called  "rich,"  were  it  not  for  the  iniquity  which  it 
disclosed.  A  glimpse  at  a  few  facts  is  all  that  can 
be  given. 

Mr.  Calhoun  said  the  objects  of  the  war  appeared  from 
the  President's  Message  to  be  threefold  :  (1.)  To  repel  in 
vasion  ;  (2.)  To  establish  the  Rio  del  Norte  as  the  West 
ern  boundary  ;  (3.)  To  obtain  payment  for  indemnities  due 
our  citizens  for  claims  against  Mexico.  The  President  had 
assumed  that  war  existed,  and  called  upon  Congress  to  re 
cognize  its  existence.  That  blood  had  been  shed  on  Ameri 
can  soil,  he  had  assumed  on  the  ground  that  the  Rio  del 
Norte  was  the  Western  boundary  of  Texas.  And  Con 
gress,  in  declaring  that  war  had  been  made  by  Mexico,  had 
recognized  that  river  as  the  boundary.  Hence,  the  cross 
ing  of  that  river  by  the  Mexicans  was  considered  invasion, 
which  was  to  be  repelled.  These  two,  repelling  invasion 
and  establishing  boundary,  were  primary  objects  ;  and  be 
ing  involved  in  the  war,  the  object  of  indemnity,  though 
not  a  sufficient  cause  of  war  in  itself,  might  be  made  one 
of  the  objects  for  which  the  war  might  be  prosecuted. 

Mr.  Benton  charged  the  war  upon  Mr.  Calhoun.  The 
causes  were  further  back  than  the  march  of  the  army  to 
the  Rio  Grande.  He  referred  to  Mr.  C.'a  approval  of  the 
treaty,  as  a  member  of  Mr.  Monroe's  Cabinet,  by  which  ter 
ritory  had  been  given  away  ;  the  blame  of  which  had  long 
been  unjustly  charged  upon  Mr.  Adams,  the  negotiator  of 
the  treaty.  He  referred  also  to  Mr.  C.'s  acts  and  corres 
pondence  relating  to  the  independence  of  Texas,  and  his 
purpose  to  extend  Slavery  ;  and  to  his  inducing  Mr.  Tyler 


156  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

to  adopt  the  course  he  did,  on  the  last  day  of  his 
presidency,  which  measure  had  precipitated  us  into 
the  war. 

Mr.  B.  said  :  "  He  now  sets  up  for  the  character  of  paci 
ficator  ;  with  what  justice,  let  the  further  fact  proclaim 
which  I  now  expose."  He  said  there  were,  in  the  summer 
of  1844,  (while  Mr.  C.  was  Secretary  of  State,)  three  hun 
dred  newspapers  in  the  pay  of  that  department,  which 
spoke  its  sentiments,  and  denounced  as  traitors  all  who 
were  for  peaceable  annexation  by  settling-,  at  the  same 
time,  the  boundary  line  of  Texas  with  Mexico.  These  pa 
pers  acted  under  instruction  ;  in  proof  of  which  he  read 
from  a  letter  as  follows  : 

"  As  the  conductor  of  a  public  journal  here,  he  has  re 
quested  me  to  answer  it,  (your  letter,)  which  request  I 
comply  with  readily.  .  .  .  With  regard  to  the  course 
of  your  paper,  you  can  take  the  tone  of  the  administration 
from  the  *****.  I  think,  however,  and  would  recom 
mend,  that  you  would  confine  yourself  to  attacks  upon 
Benton,  showing  that  he  has  allied  himself  witli  the  Whigs 
on  the  Texas  question.  Quote  Jackson's  letter  on  Texas, 
where  he  denounces  all  those  as  traitors  to  the  country 
who  oppose  the  treaty.  Apply  it  to  Benton.  Proclaim  that 
Benton,  by  attacking  Tyler  and  his  friends,  and  driving 
them  from  the  party,  is  aiding  the  election  of  Mr.  Cla}'  ; 
and  charge  him  with  doing  this  to  defeat  Mr.  Polk,  and  in 
sure  himself  the  succession  in  1848  ;  and  claim  that  full 
justice  be  done  to  the  acts  and  motives  of  John  Tyler  by 
the  leaders.  Harp  upon  these  things.  .  .  .  Look  out 
for  my  leader  of  to  morrow  as  an  indication,  and  regard 
this  letter  as  of  the  most  strict  and  inviolate  confidence  of 
character." 

Mr.  Clayton  said,  that,  during  the  debate  on  the  Oregon 
question,  in  February,  1&46,  he  had  learned  that  our  Gov 
ernment  had  ordered  Gen.  Taylor  to  break  up  his  encamp 
ment  at  Corpus  Christi,  and  march  to  the  Rio  Grande.  The 
instant  he  heard  it. — the  public  having  no  means  of  know 
ing  the  fact — he  was  alarmed  at  the  apprehension  of  a  war 
\vith  Mexico  ;  and  he  had  privately  told  Mr.  Calhoun,  that 
unless  he  should  interpose  to  arrest  the  tendency  of  things 
arising  from  that  order,  we  should  be  plunged  into  a  war. 


FOLK'S   ADMINISTRATION.  151 

At  the  same  time  there  was  danger  of  a  war  with  Eng 
land;  that  he  [Mr.  Clayton]  as.  a  Whig,  could  effect 
nothing  ;  and  unless  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  friends  should 
move  in  the  matter,  the  Whigs  would  be  powerless.  The 
gentleman  was  at  that  time  devoted  to  the  object  of  pre 
venting  a  war  with  England.  Said  Mr.  Clayton  :  "  While, 
the.  Houses  of  Congress  remained  in  ignorance,  and  those  who 
knew  could  not  move,  the  President  was  ordering  the  army  upon 
the  Rio  Grande,  and  taking  a  sie.p,  of  which  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  proved  to  be  war.  ...  At  the  time  war  was  an 
nounced,  I  denounced  it  as  the  act  of  the  President.  .  .  . 
I  believe  that  the  war  was  brought  on  by  this  marching-  of 
the  army,  without  any  necessity — done,  too,  while  Con 
gress  was  in  session,  without  one  word  being  communi 
cated,  as  to  the  intention  of  the  President,  to  cither 
House." 

The  action  of  Congress  upon  this  subject,  gave  rise  to 
the  question  :  Is  it  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to  provide 
the  means  for  prosecuting  a  war  made  unconstitutionally, 
or  by  the  exercise  of  usurped  power  ?  If  so,  the  President 
might  at  any  time  plunge  the  country  into  a  war,  without  the 
coi;82iitor  knowledge  of  Congress,  where  the  Constitution 
wisely  places  the  power  to  declare  or  make  war.  Another 
quest  on  naturally  arises  :  Can  the  Legislature  which  pro 
vides  the  means  avoid  the  responsibility  of  the  war  ?  The 
Legislature  and  the  Executive  are  designed  to  hold  checks 
upon  each  other.  Can  either,  then,  be  justified  in  refusing 
to  interpose  its  constitutional  power  to  arrest  or  to  prevent 
usurpation  by  the  other  ?  If  not,  the  people  who  have  to 
bear  the  burdens  of  war,  have  no  security  ;  and  the  Gov 
ernment  would  be  virtually  a  military  despotism.  Mr. 
Corvvin,  Senator  from  Ohio,  took  ground  on  this  subject, 
which  it  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  controvert  with  success. 
He,  almost  alone,  contended  against  the  popular  notion, 
that  because  war  had  been  made,  "  we  must  fight  it  out  ;'; 
and  that  no  distinction  is  to  be  made  between  a  war 
secretly  brought  upon  the  country  by  usurped  power, 
and  one  that  is  made  by  the  people  through  their  re 
presentatives. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts  connected  with  this  measure  of 
annexation — its  objects — its  inception — its  incidents,  and 


158  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

the  means  of  its  accomplishment — what  is  the  judgment 
which  intelligent  and  candid  minds  must  award  to  the  pro: 
jectors  and  abettors  of  this  stupendous  scheme  of  plunder, 
as  Mr.  Beriton  regarded  it  ?  Well  did  Mr.  Van  Buren  say  : 
"  We  shall  act  under  the  eye  of  an  intelligent,  observing 
world.  .  .  .  Could  we  hope  to  stand  justified  in  the 
eyes  of  mankind  ?"  Yet  the  entire  Democratic  North,  whose 
fuvorite  candidate  for  the  Presidency  deprecated  the  act 
contemplated,  went  over  in  a  body  to  the  assistance  of 
those  who  were  bent  on  the  perpetration  of  the  iniquitous 
measure  I  This,  however,  is  but  one  of  a  long  succession 
of  bad  measures  inflicted  upon  the  country  under  the  magic 
name  of  "  Democracy." 

Although  Mr.  Tyler  had  snatched  from  his  successor  the 
anticipated  honor  of  consummating  the  annexation  scheme, 
he  left  on  the  hands  of  the  latter  the  management  of  the 
other  foreign  question,  the  settlement  of  the  conflicting  ter 
ritorial  claims  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on 
the  Pacific. 

A  bill  had  been  introduced  in  the  House  at  the  session  of 
1844-1845,  at  which  the  annexation  of  Texas  was  effected, 
to  establish  a  Territorial  Government  in  Oregon.  It  em 
braced,  under  the  proposed  government,  the  whole  territory 
West  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  from  latitude  42  de 
grees  to  54  deg.  and  40  minutes.  But  as  the  proposed 
measure  might  break  up  the  negotiation  then  in  progress 
with  Great  Britain,  and  lead  to  war,  an  amendment  was 
added,  providing  that  the  act  should  not  be  so  construed  as 
to  interfere  with  the  rights  which  British  subjects  might 
have  under  the  existing  treaty  until  after  twelve  months' 
notice  should  have  been  given.  An  amendment  excluding 
Slavery  was  also  adopted.  The  bill  passed  the  House,  140 
to  49.  A  motion  to  take  up  the  bill  was  made  in  the  Sen 
ate  on  the  last  day  of  the  session,  (March  3,  1845,)  but  it 
did  not  prevail. 

President  Polk,  in  his  first  Annual  Message,  December, 
1845,  alluded  to  the  several  negotiations  under  the  admin 
istrations  of  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Adams,  which  had  result 
ed  in  provisions  for  the  joint  occupancy  of  the  territory  by 
^the  subjects  of  the  two  nations,  for  the  term  of  ten  years 
from  1818  ;  an^l  in  a  renewal  of  the  provision  for  joint  oc- 


FOLK'S   ADMINISTRATION.  159 

cupancy  for  another  term  often  years  from  1828,  and  until 
the  treaty  should  be  annulled,  which  could  be  done  by  either 
party  by  giving  the  other  twelve  months'  previous  notice 
to  that  effect. 

It  had  been  rumored  before  the  meeting-  of  Congress,  that 
our  Government  had  offered  to  treat  on  the  parallel  of  the 
49th  degree  as  a  boundary.  The  "  Union,"  the  official  paper, 
contradicted  the  rumor,  and  said  the  administration  would 
insist  on  the  "whole  of  Oregon  or  none."  [It  was  contended 
by  some  that  Great  Britain  had  no  just  claim  to  any  part 
of  the  territory.]  It  said  :  "  When  that  word  goes  forth 
from  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  nation,  '  Our  right  to 
Oregon  is  clear  and  unquestionable,'  who  doubts  that  it 
will  go  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  and  that 
it  will  be  hailed  as  it  goes,  by  the  Democratic  party,  with 
one  unanimous  Amen  !  And  what  then  ?  We  answer  this, 
then — the  Democracy  of  this  country  will  stand  to  its  word.  It 
will  not  flinch."  It  was  apprehended  that,  if  the  President 
should  recommend  the  taking  possession  of  all  Oregon,  and 
Congress  should  carry  out  the  recommendation,  war  would 
ensue.  But  to  take  possession  without  having  given  a 
year's  previous  notice  in  order  to  terminate  the  joint  occu 
pancy,  would  be  a  violation  of  the  treaty.  Hence,  there 
were  those,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Adams,  who  urged  the 
giving  of  the  notice  as. a  means  of  hastening  a  settlement 
of  the  controversy. 

After  all  the  gasconade  of  "  stump  orators"  and  the  whole 
Democratic  press  during  the  presidential  canvass  and  after 
the  election,  the  reader  will  readily  judge  of  the  disappoint 
ment  and  mortification  of  the  Democrats  on  being  informed 
by  the  President  in  his  Message,  that  he.  had  offered  to  divide 
on  the  49tfA  degree,  without,  however,  conceding  to  Great 
Britain  the  fiee  navigation  of  the  Columbia  river.  This 
proposition  having  been  rejected,  it  had  been  withdrawn, 
and  our  title  to  the  whole  territory  asserted.  He  recom 
mended  the  giving  of  notice  of  the  discontinuance  of  the 
joint  occupancy,  and  protection  to  our  citizens  in  Oregon. 

Preparations  for  war  were  supposed  to  be  making  in 
England.  In  Congress  several  measures  were  proposed  ; 
one  of  which  was  a  preparation  for  war.  A  bill  was  re 
ported  for  the  organization  of  two  regiments  of  riflemen. 


ICO  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Mr.  Adams  opposed  the  bill  as  unnecessary,  both  because 
a  bill  for  one  regiment  was  in  progress  in  the  Senate,  and 
because  he  saw  "no  danger  of  war  at  this  time."  *  If  there 
"were  such  danger,  the  first  measure  ought  to  be  a  notice  to 
Great  Britain  that  we  meant  to  terminate  the  joint  occu 
pancy.  Yet  it  was  not  a  joint  occupancy.  The  treaty  ac 
knowledged  no  occupation  of  the  territory  by  cither  party; 
it  was  a  mere  commercial  convention  for  free  navigation. 
Twelve  months  after  such  notice,  the  right  would  accrue  to 
us  to  occupy  any  part  of  the  territory.  He  hoped  it  would 
be  given,  and  followed  by  a  real  occupation  of  the  whole  terri 
tory.  [This  declaration  produced  great  sensation.]  Mr. 
Adams  noticed  the  contrast  between  the  indifference  of  the 
Calhoun  party  in  Congress  on  the  Oregon  question,  and 
their  zeal  the  year  before  for  the  acquisition  of  Texas,  even 
at  the  cost  of  war. 

After  much  debate  and  numerous  propositions  in  both 
Houses,  a  joint  resolution  was  adopted,  authorizing  the 
President,  at  his  discretion,  to  give  to  the  British  Govern 
ment  the  notice  required  for  the  abrogation  of  the  conven 
tion  (treat})  of  1827. 

Mr.  Benton  took  ground  against  Messrs.  Cass,  Dix, 
Dickinson,  and  others,  who  claimed  title  to  the  line  of  54° 
40'.  He  said,  "the  people  had  been  misled — grossly  and 
widely  misled — ignorantly  at  first,  as  we  were  bound  to 
believe  ;  des;gnedly  now,  as  we  painfully  sec.  The  fifty- 
four  forty  line  never  existed.  The  treaty  proves  it ;  yet 
its  existence  is  still  affirmed  to  mislead  the  uninformed, 
and  to  save  the  misleaders  from  the  mortification  of 
exposure." 

The  resolutions  authorizing  the  notice  approved  by  the 
President,  were  sent  to  England  to  be  delivered  in  person 
to  Her  Majesty  Victoria,  hi  the  midst  of  speculation  and 
apprehension,  PEACE  was  announced  !  A  conference  had 
taken  place  between  Mr.  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Mr.  Pakenhara,  which  resulted  in  a  treaty  concluded  the 
15th  of  June.  Instead  of  getting  ihe  whole  of  degou  to 
"  .54  40,"  we  obtained  no  part  of  it  North  of  49,  and  not  all 
the  way  quite  up  to  that  line.  The  South  had  secured 
their  object,  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  prospective 
acquisition,  from  Mexico,  of  additional  territory  of  indefl- 


FOLK'S    ADMINISTRATION.  161 

nitc  extent ;  and  they  were  not  disposed  to  favor  the  ex 
tension  of  our  territory  Northward,  and  .thus  to  furnish  the 
North  with  an  "  equipoise"  to  the  Slave  States  which  they 
had  in  prospect.  On  the  whole,  the  result  maybe  regarded 
as  another  triumph  of  the  Slave  Power,  by  its  agciit,  the 
Democratic  party. 

Another  important  object  of  this  ruling  power — an  object 
long  sought — was,  in  the  name  of  Democracy,  attained  at 
this  session — the  destruction  of  the  American  Protective 
System.  An  attempt  had  been  made  for  this  purpose  in 
1844,  but  it  did  not  quite  succeed.  There  being  now  ad 
ministration  majorities  in  both  Houses,  there  was  little 
hope  of  saving  the  Tariff  of  1842,  whose  beneficial  effects 
were  felt  in  all  the  Free  States,  and  its  unfavorable  opera 
tion  was  felt  nowhere.  A  more  arduous  struggle  between 
the  advocates  and  opponents  of  protection,  has  probably 
never  occurred. 

The  reduction  of  the  duties  was  not  the  only  defect  of  the 
act  of  1846.  On  some  articles  no  reduction  was  made.  A 
material  fault  of  the  act  was  the  entire  abolition  of  specific 
duties,  and  the  adoption,  in  full,  of  the  ad  valorem  system. 
The  effects  of  these  two  systems  have  been  stated.  Not 
only  does  the  latter  encourage  fraud  in  importations  ;  but 
also  affords  a  less  uniform  protection,  varying  with  fluctua 
tions  in  prices.  For  example  :  A  duty  of  30  per  cent,  on  a 
tun  of  iron  costing  $50  in  England,  is  $15.  But  if  the  price 
of  iron  should  fall  to  $40,  the  duty  would  be  only  $12  ;  if 
to  $30,  the  duty  would  be  $9.  Hence,  if  the  first  duty  was 
merely  sufficient  for  protection,  the  reduced  duty  would 
afford  no  protection  at  all. 

Specific  duties  had  been  recommended  by  our  leading 
statesmen  ;  and  they  had,  from  long  experience,  been  found 
preferable  to  ad  valcrem  duties.  But  as  the  latter  would 
seriously  affect  the  manufacturing  interest,  which  was 
almost  entirely  confined  to  the  North,  Democracy,  which 
had  become  the  synonym  of  Slavery,  yielded  to  the  demand 
for  the  change,  to  the  damage  of  the  free  labor  of  the 
North.  The  Democratic  members  from  Pennsylvania,  with 
one  exception,  remained  true  to  the  protective  principle, 
and  one-fourth  of  those  from  New  York  ;  and  the  opposi 
tion  to  the  bill  derived  considerable  strength  from  tho 
Whigs  of  the  Slave  States,  *> 


162  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

The  vote  in  the  Senate  stood,  Yeas,  28  ;  Nays,  27.  Only 
one  Whig1,  (Jarnagin,  of  Tenn.,  under  instructions,)  voted 
for  the  bill.  Of  the  Democrats  who  voted  against  it,  were 
Cameron  and  Sturgeon,  of  Pa.,  and  Niles,  of  Conn. 

In  the  House,  there  were,  Yeas,  114  :  Democrats,  113  ; 
Whig,  1,  (of  Alabama.)  Nays,  95  :  Whigs,  71  ;  Demo 
crats,  18  ;  Native  Americans,  6.  Of  the  18  Democrats, 
there  were  from  New  York,  4  ;  New  Jersey,  2  ;  Pennsyl 
vania,  11  ;  Maryland,  1.  Native  Americana,  New  York, 
4  ;  Pennsylvania,  2. 

The  unfavorable  effects  of  the  new  tariff  were  soon  felt. 
Complaints  came  from  different  sections.  A  large  number 
of  Woolen  and  Iron  manufactories  were  very  soon  adversely 
affected.  Some  were  suspended  ;  others  discharged  a  part 
of  their  hands  ;  and  others  reduced  the  wages  of  operatives. 
Before  two  years  had  elapsed  there  were  indications  of 
another  revulsion  at  no  distant  period.  Fortunately,  how 
ever,  the  discovery  of  California  gold,  and  the  rapid  increase 
of  coin,  increased  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country, 
and  the  means  of  paying  for  imported  goods  ;  and  thus 
postponed  the  apprehended  calamity.  But  importations 
continued  to  increase  beyond  all  precedent,  until,  in  1857, 
they  reached  the  enormous  amount  of  about  $360,000,000  ; 
being  nearly  three,  times  the  average  amount  imported  for  tht 
eight  or  ten  years  previous  to  184f>  ;  when  (1857)  the  deferred 
14  crash"  at  length  came  !  A  more  ruinous  one,  it  is  be 
lieved,  has  never  been  experienced  in  this  country. 

The  President  having  recommended  a  Sub  Treasury,  a 
bill  was  reported  early  in  the  session  by  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  and  passed  the  House,  April  2d,  184G, 
by  a  vote  of  123  to  67.  It  passed  the  Senate,  August  1st, 
by  a  strict  party  vote,  28  to  24.  By  this  law,  all  receivers 
and  disbursers  of  the  public  revenue,  including  all  postmas 
ters,  were  required  to  collect  and  pay  out  specie  only. 

At  the  session  of  1847-1848,  was  established  a  Govern 
ment  for  the  territory  of  Oregon.  Mr.  Douglas  had  re 
ported  a  bill  for  this  purpose  in  August,  1846,  to  which  an 
amendment  excluding  Slavery  had  been  adopted  in  Com 
mittee  of  the  Whole.  In  the  Senate,  the  bill  was  read 
twice,  referred,  and  reported  on  ;  but  no  further  action  was 
taken  upon  the  bill. 


FOLK'S    ADMINISTRATION.  163 

At  the  next  session,  Mr.  Douglas,  December  23,  1846, 
again  reported  his  bill,  which  was  read  twice  and  commit 
ted.  It  was  discussed  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  Janu 
ary  llth,  12th,  arid  13th.  The  next  day,  the  bill  was  taken 
out  of  Committee,  when  Mr.  Burt,  of  S.  C.,  moved  the  fol 
lowing  addition  (already  voted  down  in  Committee)  to  the 
clause  forbidding  Slavery  :  "  Inasmuch  as  the  whole  of  said 
Territory  lies  North  of  36  degrees  30  minutes  North  lati 
tude,  known  as  the  line  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.'7 

The  object  of  this  evidently  was  to  recognize  the  Mis 
souri  line,  not  as  limited  to  territory  owned  at  the  time 
that  line  was  established,  but  as  extending  to  all  that  had 
since  been,  or  thereafter  should  be,  acquired,  so  as  to  legal 
ize  Slavery  thenceforth  South  of  36  deg.  30  min.  The  amend 
ment  was  negatived  :  Yeas,  82  ;  nays,  114.  From  Free 
States,  5  voted  in  the  minority.  No  member  from  a  Slave 
State  voted  in  the  majority.  The  bill  then  passed,  134  to 
35 — nays  all  Southern.  This  bill,  like  that  of  the  preced 
ing  session,  failed  to  receive  the  final  action  of  the  Seriate. 

At  the  next  session,  1847-1848,  Mr.  C.  B.  Smith,  of  Indi 
ana,  reported  to  the  House  a  bill  to  establish  a  Government 
for  Oregon,  which,  after  postponements  and  other  delays, 
came  out  of  Committee,  August  1st,  that  provision  having 
been  struck  out  which  required  the  inhabitants  of  the  Ter 
ritory  to  be  "  subject  to  all  the  conditions,  and  restrictions, 
and  prohibitions  in  the  articles  of  compact  contained  in  the 
ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territory  North-West 
of  the  river  Ohio,  passed  July  13,  1787."  [Anti-Slavery 
restriction.]  The  House  refused  to  agree  to  this  amend 
ment :  Yeas,  88;  Nays,  114.  Of  those  who  voted  for 
striking  out,  5  were  from  Free  States.  The  billr  was  then 
passed,  128  to  71.  This  vote  was  entirely  sectional,  except 
ing  the  vote  of  Mr.  Houston,  of  Del.,  who  voted  in  the 
affirmative.  In  the  Senate,  the  bill  was,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  amended  so  as  to  extend  the  Missouri  Compromise 
line  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  engrossed  for  a  third  read 
ing,  33  to  22.  It  was  returned  to  the  House,  where  the 
amendment  of  Mr.  Douglas  was  rejected  :  Yeas,  82  ;  nays, 
121.  From  Free  States,  3  voted  Yea  ;  otherwise  all  from 
Free  States  Nays  ;  and  all  from  the  Slave  States  Yeas.  The 
Senate  receded  from  its  amendments,  and  passed  the 


164  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

bill  as  it  came  from  the  House  :  Yeas,  29  ;  Nays,  25 — all 
from  Slave  States. 

A  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Clayton,  in  the  Senate,  fpr 
the  organization  of  New  Mexico  and  California  into  Terri 
tories  ;  but  it  was  not  acted  upon  at  this  session. 

At  the  next  session,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Senate, 
December  11,  1848,  by  Mr.  Douglas,  for  the  admission  of 
California  as  a  State,  to  include  all  the  territory  acquired 
by  treaty  from  Mexico.  This  bill  was  silent  on  the  subject 
of  Slavery.  Mr.  Davis,  of  Miss.,  proposed  an  amend 
ment  to  annex  New  Mexico  to  Texas.  This  would  have 
legalized  Slavery  in  that  part  of  the  acquired  territory. 
The  people  of  New  Mexico  had  petitioned  Congress,  re 
monstrating  against  being  annexed  to  Texas,  and  praying 
to  be  protected  against  the  introduction  of  Slavery  into 
their  territory.  The  Senate  did  not  come  to  a  vote  on 
the  bill. 

A  bill  was  reported  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Smith,  of  Indi 
ana,  to  establish  a  Territorial  Government  for  Upper  Cali 
fornia,  with  the  Anti-Slavery  proviso,  which  passed  the 
House,  126  to  87.  But  the  session  closed  without  any  ac 
tion  upoij  it  after  its  reference. 

The  popularity  acquired  by  General  Taylor  as. a  military 
commander  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  haJ,  for  two  years 
before  the  approaching  Presidential  election,  pointed  him 
out  to  shrewd  Whig  politicians  as  an  "  available"  candi 
date.  Having  spent  nearly  the  whole  period  of  his  man 
hood  in  the  army,  and  having  never,  as  was  said,  cast  a 
vote  at  an  election,  he  was  nwt,  of  course,  a  party  politi 
cian.  HQ  seemed,  however,  to  have  a  leaning  toward  the 
Whig  party.  Being  a  Southern  man,  and  the  Whig  party 
of  the  North  being  strongly  committed  to  the  Wilmot 
proviso,  or  the  non-extension  of  Slavery,  it  was  doubted 
whether  he  could  obtain  a  nomination  ;  or  if  nominated, 
whether  he  could  be  elected.  In  his  replies  to  numerous 
interrogatories,  he  uniformly  refused  to  declare  himself  a 
Whig,  or  to  bo  the  exponent  of  Whig  doctrines.  Ho 
would,  if  elected,  be  the  President  of  the  nation,  and  not  of 
a  party  ;  and  he  would  make  no  party  pledges. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Baltimore, 
the  22d  of  May,  1848.  As  in  former  Conventions,  the 


two-thirds  rule  was  adopted.  On  the  fourth  ballot, 
General  Cass  received  179  votes  ;  Lcvi  Woodbury,  38  ; 
James  Buchanan,  33  ;  and  Gen.  Worth,  3,  Gen.  Win.  0. 
Butler,  of  Ky.,  was  nominated  for  Vice-  President. 

The  Whig-  National  Convention  met  at  Philadelphia, 
the  7th  of  June.  On  the  first  ballot,  Gen.  Taylor  received 
111  votes  ;  Mr.  Clay,  97  ;  Mr.  Webster,  21  ;  Gen.  Scott, 
46  ;  John  M'Lean,  2.  After  another  unsuccessful  ballot, 
further  balloting  was  deferred  until  the  next  day,  when, 
on  the  second  ballot  of  that  day,  Gen.  Taylor  received 
171  votes  ;  Mr.  Clay,  30  ;  Gen.  Scott,  63  ;  Mr.  Webster, 
12.  Millard  Fillmorc  was  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  No  resolutions,  or  platform  of  principles,  was 
adopted. 

A  National  Mass  Convention  was  held  in  the  city  of 
Buffalo,  on  the  9th  of  August,  composed  of  disaffected 
Democrats  and  Whigs,  who  were  designated  "  free-soil 
men."  Martin  Van  Buren  was  nominated  for  President  ; 
Charles  Francis  Adams  for  Vice-President. 

The  views  of  Gen.  Cass  on  the  Slavery  issue  were  stated 
in  a  letter  to  A.  0.  P.  Nicholson,  of  Tennessee.  He  had 
been  in  favor  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  ;  but  had  receded 
from  that  position,  and  was  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  any 
jurisdiction  by  Congress  over  Slavery  in  the  Territories  ; 
but  he  would  leave  to  the  people  of  any  territory  the  right 
to  regulate  it  for  themselves. 

The  views  of  Gen.  Taylor  were  expressed  in  a  letter  to 
Captain  Allison.  He  was  in  favor  of  exercising  the  veto 
power  only  in  cases  of  clear  violation  of  the  Constitution, 
or  manifest  haste  and  want  of  consideration  by  Congress. 
In  respect  to  the  tariff,  the  currency,  and  internal  improve 
ments,  the  will  of  the  people,  as  expressed  through  their 
representatives,  ought  to  be  respected  and  carried  out  by 
the  Executive.  On  Slavery  he  was  silent. 

Of  the  Presidential  electors  chosen  in  November,  163 
voted  for  Taylor  and  Fillrnore  ;  and  127  for  Cass  and  Butler. 


166  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR 


CHAPTER     VII. 

Administration  of  Zachary  Taylor  and  Millard  Filhnore. 

GENERAL  ZACHARY  TAYLOR  \vas  inaugurated  as  President 
on  the  5th  of  March,  1849.  His  Address  was  short,  and 
partook  much  of  the  character  of  his  numerous  letters 
written  before  his  election.  He  selected  for  his  Cabinet 
officers  the  following1  :  John  M.  Clayton,  of  Delaware, 
Secretary  of  State  ;  Win.  M.  Meredith,  of  Pennsylvania, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Thomas  Ewing,  of  Ohio,  Sec 
retary  of  the  Interior  ;  George  W.  Crawford,  of  Georgia, 
Secretary  of  War  ;  Wm.  B.  Preston,  of  Virginia,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  ;  Jacob  Collamer,  of  Vermont,  Postmaster- 
General  ;  Keverdy  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  Attorne3r-General. 

Congress  assembled  December  3,  1849.  Three  weeks 
were  spent  in  fruitless  attempts  to  elect  a  speaker,  when, 
in  order  to  terminate  the  contest,  it  was  agreed  by  the 
parties  to  elect  by  a  plurality  vote.  Howell  Cobb,  of 
Georgia,  was  then  elected. 

The  Message  of  President  Taylor  was  communicated  to 
Congress  the  24th.  Ho  recommended  the  revision  of  the 
Tariff  to  augment  the  revenue,  and  the  adoption  of  specific 
duties.  The  Sub-Treasury,  if  continued,  needed  modifica 
tion.  And  a  loan  was  recommended  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  war  with  Mexico.  His  policy  in  regard  to  the  new 
Territories  was,  that  Congress  should  await  the  action  of 
the  people  themselves  in  forming  Constitutions  preparatory 
to  the  admission  of  California  and  New  Mexico.  This,  lie 
believed,  would  avoid  all  causes  of  uneasiness,  and  pre 
serve  confidence  and  good  feeling.  Congress  should 
abstain  from  the  introduction  of  those  exciting  topics  of  a 
eectioiral  character,  which  had  produced  painful  apprehen 
sions  in  the  public  mind.  [He  had  reference,  probably,  to 
the  excitement  usually  produced  by  the  attempts,  in  form- 


TAYLOR'S  ADMINISTRATION.  16T 

ing  Territorial  Governments,  to  prohibit  Slavery.  In  prin 
ciple,  his  plan  might  be  objectionable  ;  practically,  it  would, 
in  the  particular  cases  then  existing,  be  less  liable  to  ob 
jections,  as  Slavery  had  been  abolished  in  these  Territories 
by  Mexico,  and  it  was  not  probable  that  the  inhabitants 
would  favor  its  reestablishment] 

This  session  was  an  eventful  one — being  distinguished 
for  one  of  the  moat  liberal  concessions  ever  made  to  the 
Slave  Power.  The  proceedings  in  relation  to  the  new  ter 
ritory  and  Slavery,  occupied  a  large,  if  not  the  larger  por 
tion  of  the  session. 

Mr.  Clay  submitted  resolutions,  eight  in  number,  propos 
ing  an  "  arnica), le  arrangement"  of  the  whole  Slavery 
controversy.  Although  they  were  designed  as  a  compro 
mise,  they -were  little  else  than  concession.  They  were, 
notwithstanding,  unacceptable,  as  a  whole,  to  the  ultra 
Southerners.  in  fact,  they  were  opposed  by  Southern 
Senators  as  making  no  concession  to  the  South — as  being 
no  compromise  at  all  !  They  objected  to  the  admission 
of  California  as  a  State,  with  a  Constitution  prohibiting 
Slavery  ;  unless,  as  they  had  the  boldness  to  say,  another 
new  Slave  State,  could  be  laid  off  within  the  limits  of  Texas,  so 
as  to  keep  the  present  equiponderance  between  the  Slave 
arid  Free  States  ;  and  further,  unless  all  this  were  done  by 
way  of  compromise,  and  in  order  to  save  the  Union  ! 

Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  were  debated  for  nearly  two 
months  ;  the  President  having  in  the  meantime  communi 
cated  to  Congress  a  copy  of  the  Constitution  of  California. 
Various  propositions  having  been  made  by  Senators,  they 
were  referred  to  a  Select  Committee  of  thirteen,  (Mr.  Clay 
Chairman,)  who  made  a  report  embodying  them  in  a  single 
bill,  facetiously  termed  the  "  Omnibus  bill."  It  was 
debated,  and  piirt  after  part  eliminated,  until  it  passed  the 
Senate  only  as  "A  bill  to  provide  for  the  Territorial  Gov 
ernment  of  Utuh."  This  dismemberment  was  called  "  up 
setting  the  Omnibus."  Subsequently  the  other  portions  of 
the  bill  were  passed  in  separate  bills.  California  was  ad 
mitted  ;  a  Territorial  Government  bill  for  New  Mexico  was 
passed  ;  and  a  bill  establishing  the  boundary  of  ^exas. 
By  this  bill  a  large  portion  of  .New  Mexico  was  annexed  to 
Texas  to  enlarge  the  area  of  Slavery,  arid  $10,000,000 


1G8  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

given  to  Texas  to  relinquish  her  claims  to  New  Mexico  ; 
or  as  Mr.  Benton  remarked:  "They  give  70,000  square 
miles  to  Texas,  and  offer  her  ten  millions  to  accept  it  I" 
Some  land,  however,  of  inferior  value,  was  ceded  by  Texas 
to  the  United  States.  A  law  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  fugitive  slave  law,  were 
passed.  Of  course,  no  restriction  was  laid  upon  Slavery  in 
the  Territorial  Governments  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico. 
The  Texas  boundary  bill  and  the  New  Mexico  Territorial 
bill  were  in  the  House  united,  and  passed  in  one  bill. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind  two  facts  : 
First,  these  measures,  called  the  "  compromise  measures  of 
1850,"  were  intended  as  a  final  settlement  of  the  Slavery 
question,  and  were  repeatedly  declared  to  be  so  since  their 
enactment.  Secondly,  there  was  no  intimation,  in  the  long 
debate  on  these  measures,  that  their  adoption  would  involve 
or  imply  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction.  We  shall 
soon  have  occasion  to  advert  to  these  facts. 

While  these  measures  were  pending,  on  the  9th  of  July, 
1850,  President  Taylor  died.  On  the  next  day,  Mr.  Fill- 
more,  Vice-President,  took  the  oath  of  office,  and  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  President  ;  and  the  day  following,  Wm. 
R.  King,  Senator  from  Alabama,  was  elected  President  of 
the  Senate,  pro  tern. 

Mr.  Fill  more  reconstructed  the  Cabinet.  He  appointed 
Daniel  Webster  Secretary  of  State  ;  Thomas  C->r\vin,  of 
Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Charles  M.  Conrad,  of 
Louisiana,  Secretary  of  War  ;  Wm.  A.  Graham,  of  North 
Carolina,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ;  Alexander  H.  II.  Stnart, 
of  Va.,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ;  Nathan  K.  Hall,  of  New 
York,  Postmaster-General  ;  and  John  J.  Crittenden,  of 
Ky.,  Attorney-General. 

Although  a  state  of  comparative  peace  on  the  subject  of 
Slavery  succeeded  the  excitement  which  had  been  produced 
by  the  "  measures  of  1850,"  certain  events  connected  with 
:\nd  resulting  from  these  measures  arc  deserving  of  notice. 
During  their  pendency  in  Congress,  a  material  change  on 
the  question  of  Slavery  was  manifested  by  some  distin 
guished  Whigs.  One  of  these  gentlemen  was  Mr.  Web- 
eter.  No  man  had  been  more  fully  committed  against  tho 
extension  of  Slavery  than  he.  He  had  on  this  ground  op- 


FILLMORE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  1G9 

posed  the  annexation  of  Texas.  In  1847,  be  made  a  speech 
at  a  Whig  State  Convention  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  in  which 
he  said  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  : 

"  This  is  certainly  a  just  sentiment,  but  it  is  not  a  senti 
ment  to  found  any  new  party  upon.  It  is  not  a  sentiment 
on  which  Massachusetts  Whigs  differ.  There  is  not  a  man 
in  this  hall  who  holds  to  it  more  firmly  than  I  do,  nor  one 
who  adheres  to  it  more  than  another. 

"  I  feel  some  interest  in  this  matter,  Sir.  Did  not  I  com 
mit  myself  in  1838  to  the  whole  doctrine,  fully,  entirely  ? 
And  1  must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  I  can  not  quite  con 
sent  that  more  recent  discoverers  should  take  out  a  patent. 
I  deny  the  priority  of  their  invention.  Allow  me  to  say, 
Sir,  it  is  not  their  thunder.  *  *  We  are  to  use  the 

first,  and  last,  and  every  occasion  which  offers,  to  oppose 
the  extension  of  the  Slave  Power." 

When,  afterwards,  legislation  became  necessary  to  es 
tablish  Governments  for  California  and  New  Mexico,  Mr. 
Webster  was  not  in  favor  of  "  using  this  occasion"  to  apply 
the  Proviso,  to  which,  in  1847,  he  held  so  "firmly."  He 
would  leave  it  to  the  "  physical  geography  of  the  country" — 
to  a  law  "  superior  to  the  Proviso — the  law  of  nature" — to 
"exclude  African  Slavery  there.  It  needed  not  the  appli 
cation  of  a  proviso.  If  the  question  were  now  before  the 
Senate,  he  would  not  vote  to  add  a  prohibition — to  reaffirm 
an  ordinance  of  nature,  nor  reenact  the  will  of  God."  Mr. 
Webster  also  spoke  of  "  Southern  grievances" — of  the  obli 
gations  of  the  North  in  regard  to  the  returning  of  fugitive 
slaves.  Northern  Legislatures  had  displeased  the  South 
by  passing  resolutions  on  the  subject  of  Slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  sometimes  even  in  regard  to  its 
abolition  in  the  States.  He  denounced  Abolition  Societies 
for  interfering  with  the  South.  Mr.  W.,  however,  made 
allusion  also  to  the  grievances  of  the  North.  The  time  had 
been  when,  in  defending  the  North,  he  did  not  think  himself 
called  on  to  make  an  offset  by  bringing  in  the  groundless 
complaints  of  the  South. 

Mr.  Fillmorc,  too,  changed  his  position  on  this  question. 
He  had,  in  Congress  and  out  of  Congress,  long  occupied 
high  Anti-Slavery  ground.  But  for  this  fact,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  Whig  candidates  would  have  received  so 


170  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

heavy  majorities  in  1848.  Many  Anti-Slavery  Whigs,  not 
withstanding  their  having  pledged  themselves  to  support 
no  man  for  President  who  was  not  known  to  be  in  favor  of 
the  Wilmot  Proviso,  voted  for  the  party  ticket,  alleging  as 
a  reason,  that  a  thorough  Anti-Slavery  man  was  the  candi 
date  for  Vioe-President.  These  men  subsequently  con 
demned  the  course  pursued  by  their  political  favorite.  He 
•was  severely  censured  for  having  approved  the  new  Fugi 
tive  Slave  law  with  all  its  repulsive  features.  They  re 
garded  the  old  law  as  sufficiently  stringent  to  answer  the 
demands  of  the  Constitution  in  relation  to  the  reclamation 
of  fugitive  slaves.  But  he  had  in  other  respects  truckled 
to  the  South.  He  had  given  the  weight  of  his  influence 
in  favor  of  the  whole  series  of  pro-slavery  measures  enacted 
by  Congress  in  1850. 

President  Taylor  had  not  been  long  in  office  before  he 
found  himself  in  the  midst  of  an  opposition,  which,  though 
not  as  yet  open  and  avowed,  threatened  to  embarass  his 
administration.  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster  had  long 
aspired  to  the  Presidency  ;  and  the  success  of  Gen.  Taylor 
at  the  last  nominating  Convention,  had  probably  extin 
guished  all  hopes  of  their  ever  reaching  the  Presidential 
chair,  to  which,  it  is  conceded,  few  American  statesmen  had 
stronger  claims.  It  is  not  very  strange  that  these  gentle 
men  and  their  particular  friends  did  not  render  a  very  cor 
dial  support  to  the  administration.  Mr.  Webster  had, 
before  the  election,  declared  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor 
to  be  "  a  nomination  not  fit  to  be  made." 

President  Taylor,  however,  disappointed,  in  some  measure, 
the  Anti-Slavery  Whigs  who  refused  to  support  him  on  ac 
count  of  his  supposed  friendship  for  Slavery.  It  was  soon 
ascertained  that  he  was  determined  the  influence  of  his 
administration  should  not  be  given  to  the  Slave  Power. 
As  has  been  intimated,  he  desired  to  avoid  the  agitation  of 
the  subject  of  Slavery,  which  would  probably  be  produced 
by  efforts  to  prohibit  it  in  California  and  New  Mexico  ;  and, 
with  this  view,  he  favored  their  admission  as  States  when 
ever  the  people  should  apply  for  admission,  without  requir 
ing  them  to  pass  through  the  Territorial  condition.  Slavery 
having  been  abolished  by  Mexico  before  the  Territory  was 
ceded  to  the  United  States,  it  was  presumed  the  States 


FILLMORE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  171 

would  come  in  as  Free  States.  His  policy  not  being  suffi 
ciently  Southern  to  please  the  slaveholders,  he  met  with 
opposition  from  both  sections  of  the  Union. 

It  is  well  known  that,  among  those  who  first  suggested 
the  nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor,  was  Mr.  Seward.  It  is  be 
lieved  by  some  that  the  idea  originated  with  him  and  his 
friend,  Mr.  Weed.  Mr.  Seward  and  Gen.  Taylor  enjoyed  in 
a  high  degree  each  others  confidence.  The  former  entered 
the  Senate  cotcrnporaneously  with  the  accession  of  the  lat 
ter  to  the  Presidency. ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he 
may  have  had  some  influence  in  shaping  the  policy  of  Presi 
dent  Taylor  on  this  question.  The  support  which  the 
President  received  from  the  Senator,  gave  occasion  to  the 
representatives  of  the  Slave  Power  to  excite  the  jealousy  of 
Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  Fillmore  and  their  friends 
toward  Mr.  Seward,  who  was  considered,  especially  by  the 
Vice-President,  as  a  political  rival. 

The  reader  probab'y  begins  to  see  the  cause  of  the  somer 
set  performed  by  Mr.  Fillmore  on  the  Slavery  question.  In 
1844,  these  two  distinguished  New  Yorkers  stood  upon  the 
same  political  platform,  and  addressed  the  same  audiences 
from  the  same  stands.  The  Whig  State  Convention  of  that 
year,  which  nominated  Mr.  Fillmore  for  Governor  ;  the 
Convention  of  1847,  which  nominated  him  for  Controller  ; 
and  the  Conventions  of  1848,  1849,  and  1850,  all  adopted 
resolutions  indorsing  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  In  the  series  of 
resolutions  adopted  in  1850,  was  one  expressing  thanks  to 
William  H.  Seward  for  the  ability  and  fidelity  with  which 
he  had  sustained,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  the  princi 
ples  of  public  policy  so  long  cherished  by  the  Whigs  of  the 
Empire  State,  expressed  in  State  and  County  Conventions, 
as  well  as  in  the  votes  and  instructions  of  the  Legislature. 
To  this  resolution,  the  special  friends  of  Mr.  Fillmore  ob 
jected,  declaring,  if  it  should  pass,  the  Whig  party  of  New 
York  would  be  immediately  broken  up  ;  and  that  where  the 
dissenters  would  go  would  be  determined  thereafter.  The 
resolution  was  adopted.  The  leaders  of  the  minority,  among 
whom  was  the  Chairman  of  the  Convention,  Mr.  Granger, 
then  retired,  followed  by  most  of  those  who  had  voted  for 
the  obnoxious  resolution,  to  a  Hotel,  where  they  resolved  to 
support  Mr.  Fillmore,  and  abjured  allegiance  to  the  party 


172  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

supporting  Mr.  Scword.  The}7  resolved  also  to  meet  with 
their  friends  from  other  parts  of  the  State  at  Utica  in  Sep 
tember.  A  Convention  was  accordingly  held,  and  a  new 
party  organized,  called  "  Silver  Gray,"  having,  it  was  said, 
been  thus  named  by  its  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Granger,  who 
had  been  again  elected  Chairman. 

Additional  evidence  of  the  apostacy  of  Mr.  Fillmore  is 
seen  in  the  removal  of  the  Cabinet  officers  appointed  by 
Gen.  Taylor  ;  in  effecting  the  displacement  of  the  editor  of 
the  administration  paper  at  Washington  by  one  more  pro- 
slavery  ;  in  the  withdrawal  of  nominations  to  the  Senate 
made  by  his  predecessor  and  not  yet  acted  upon,  and  the 
nomination,  in  their  place,  of  his  own  particular  friends  ; 
and  in  an  alleged  bargain,  express  or  implied,  with  South 
ern  Democratic  Senators  while  he  xvas  Vice-President — it 
being  understood  that,  in  case  of  a  tie  in  the  Senate  on  the 
"  Omnibus  bill,"  he  was  to  save  the  bill  by  his  casting  vote,* 
in  consideration  of  which  Southern  Senators  were  to  vote 
against  the  confirmation  of  certain  nominations  made  by 
President  Taylor  at  the  suggestion,  as  was  supposed,  of 
Mr.  Seward.  This  allegation  was  made  by  Senator  Footc, 
of  Mississippi,  in  a  public  speech,  and,  us  is  believed,  has 
not  been  contradicted. 

But  for  the  death  of  President  Taylor,  he  would  probably 
very  soon  have  been  openly  assailed  by  a  matured  and 
powerful  opposition,  embracing  many  of  the  old  Whig 
leaders,  with  the  probable  result,  if  not  the  design,  of  bring 
ing  him  into  subjection  to  the  Slave  Power,  liis  adminis 
tration  had  already  been  declared  to  be  infected  with 
"Sewardism,"  which  was  known  to  be  less  attractive  to 
Southern  Whigs  generally  than  that  "  Conservatism"  to 
which  Mr.  Fillmore  had  just  become  a  convert.  The  pre 
cise  object  of  this  Whig  opposition  to  the  administration, 
further  than  to  effect  its  overthrow,  can  not  be  stated  with 
certainty.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  it  was  intended 
to  form  a  new  party  more  popular  at  the  South  than  the 
old  Whig  party  with  its  strong  Anti-Slavery  element  in  the 
North,  and  of  which  new  party  Mr.  Fillmore  was  to  be  the 
head.  Others  supposed  that  an  alliance  with  the  Democra 
tic  party  was  contemplated.  That  such  a  union  was 
designed  to  take  place  at  some  future  time  appears  some 


FILLMORE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  173 

what  probable  from  the  subsequent  course  of  these  Whigs. 
A  large  portion,  if  not  a  majority  of  them,  have  since  slid- 
den  through  the  avenue  of  Know-Nothingism  into  the 
ranks  of  the  slaveholders,  with  whom  they  have,  in  the  last 
two  presidential  campaigns,  fought  valiantly  against  prin 
ciple  s  and  measures  which  they  had  as  zealously  supported. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  ulterior  design  of  Mr. 
Fillrnorc  and  his  friends,  the  immediate  object  was  evi 
dently  a  nomination  in  1852.  And  his  reward  for  the 
abandonment  of  a  noble  and  long  cherished  principle,  con 
sists  in  his  having  been  beaten  in  Convention  by  Gen.  Scott, 
and  thus  saved  the  mortification  of  a  defeat  at  the  polls  by 
such  a  man  as  Franklin  Pierce  ;  and  in  the  satisfaction  of 
having  received  the  electoral  vote  of  one  State,  and  that  a 
Slave  State,  in  1856  1 

The  National  Democratic  Convention  met  at  Baltimore, 
on  the  1st  of  June,  1852.  On  the  first  ballot,  Gen.  Cass 
received  117  votes  ;  James  Buchanan,  93  ;  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  20  ;  Wm.  L.  Marcy,  27.  Ballotings  were  con 
tinued  on  two  subsequent  days,  when,  on  the  49th  ballot, 
Franklin  Pierce,  of  N.  II.,  received  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  Convention.  Wm.  E.  King,  of  Alabama,  was  nominated 
for  Vice-President, 

The  Whig  Convention  met  at  the  same  place  on  the  16th 
of  June,  and,  as  the  other  Convention  had  been,  was  in  ses 
sion  five  days.  A  platform  of  principles  was  adopted,  227 
to  60,  before  any  attempt  at  nomination  had  been  made. 
Mr.  Fillmore  received  on  the  first  ballot,  132  votes  ;  Gen. 
Scott,  131  ;  Mr.  Webster,  29.  Balloting  was  resumed  the 
next  day  with  the  7th  ballot  ;  and  on  the  53d,  the  result 
was,  for  Scott,  159  ;  Fillmore,  112  ;  Webster,  21.  Wm.  A. 
Graham,  of  N.  C.,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President.  Scott 
and  Graham  were  both  declared  unanimously  nominated. 

The  platforms  adopted  by  the  two  Conventions  were  less 
dissimilar  than  usual  ;  on  the  question  of  Slavery,  they 
were  substantially  the  same.  The  Democrats  resolved  to 
"  resist  all  attempts  at  renewing,  in  Congress  or  out  of  it, 
the  agitation  of  the  Slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape 
or  color  the  attempt  may  be  made."  The  Whigs  declared, 
"  That  the  series  of  acts  of  the  31st  Congress — the  act 
known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  included — are  received 


174  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

and  acquiesced  in  by  the  Whig  party  of  the  United  States  ; 
.  .  .  and  we  deprecate  all  further  agitation  of  the  ques 
tion  thus  settled,  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  ;  and  will  dis 
countenance  all  efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation 
•whenever,  wherever,  and  however  the  attempt  may  be 
made  ;  and  we  will  maintain  this  system  as  essential  to 
the  nationality  of  the  Whig  party  of  the  Union." 

The  adoption  of  such  a  platform  was  the  death  blow  to 
the  Whig  party — it  was  political  suicide.  The  Northern 
portion  of  it  had  been  distinguished  from  their  opponents 
for  their  advocacy  of  free  speech,  free  soil,  and  free  labor  ; 
and  in  former  National  Conventions  they  had  gone  no  far 
ther  than  to  be  silent  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  as  a  matter 
of  necessity  ;  but  this  humiliating  bid  against  the  Demo 
crats  for  Southern  votes  was  more  than  some  Northern 
Whigs  could  indorse.  Still  the  contest  was  spirited,  and 
exhibited  a  fair  vote  for  their  electoral  ticket.  The  aboli 
tion  vote,  however,  for  Mr.  Hale,  was  more  than  double  that 
given  for  Mr.  Birney  in  1844.  Gen.  Scott  received  the 
electoral  votes  of  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee,  in  all  42.  Gen.  Pierce  received  the  votes  of  all 
the  other  States,  254. 


PIEBCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  176 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Administration  of  Franklin  Pierce. 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE  was  inaugurated  the  4th  of  March, 
1853.  He  alluded  in  his  Address  to  the  subject  "  which 
had  recently  agitated  the  nation."  Slavery  was  recognized 
by  the  Constitution  ;  the  States  where  it  existed  were  en 
titled  to  efficient  remedies  to  enforce  the  constitutional  pro 
visions  ;  the  "  compromise  measures  of  1850"  were  consti 
tutional,  and  must  be  carried  into  effect ;  and  he  said  :  "  I 
fervently  hope  that  the  question  is  at  rest,  and  that  no 
sectional,  or  ambitious,  or  fanatical  excitement  may  again 
threaten  the  durability  of  our  institutions,  or  obscure  the 
light  of  our  prosperity." 

The  83d  Congress  began  its  1st  session  December  5th, 
1853.  The  President,  in  his  Message,  again  alluded  to  the 
late  excitement,  and  spoke  of  the  restoration  of  "  repose 
and  security  to  the  public  mind  throughout  the  Confeder 
acy  ;"  and  said  :  "  That  this  repose  is  to  suffer  no  shock 
during  my  official  term,  if  I  have  power»to  avert  it,  those 
who  placed  rne  here  may  be  assured." 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  the  day  before  the  deliv 
ery  of  the  Message,  Senator  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  gave  notice  of 
a  bill  to  organize  the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  It  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories,  and  on  the  15th 
was  reported  by  Mr.  Douglas  with  amendments.  Doubts 
having  been  expressed  whether  the  amendments  repealed 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  he  made  a  special  report  on  the 
4th  of  January,  1854,  so  amending  the  bill  as  to  assert  that 
the  said  Compromise  "  was  superseded  by  the  principles  of 
the  legislation  of  1850,  commonly  called  the  compromise 
measures,"  and  to  declare  the  Missouri  restriction  "  inoper 
ative  and  void." 


176  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

This  declaration  was  afterwards,  on  his  own  motion, 
struck  out,  and  the  following  inserted  : 

"  Which,  (the  Missouri  Compromise,)  being  inconsistent 
with  the  principle  of  non-intervention  by  Congress  with 
Slavery  in  the  States  and  Territories,  as  recognized  by  the 
legislation  of  1850,  (commonly  called  the  Compromise 
Measures,)  is  hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void  ;  it  be 
ing  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act,  not  to  legislate 
Slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it  there 
from,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and 
regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  not  easy  to  perceive  how  any  one  could  sincerely 
maintain  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was,  or  could  have 
been,  repealed  by  the  acts  of  1850.  It  has  been  observed 
already,  that  no  intimation  to  that  effect  had  been  made 
during  the  debates  on  them.  Mr.  Chase,  in  a  speech  on. 
his  motion  to  strike  out  the  assertion  for  which  the  above 
was  afterward  substituted  on  Mr.  Douglas'  own  motion, 
denied  the  truth  of  the  statement.  He  said  that,  during 
the  long  discussion  of  these  measures  in  1850,  it  was  never 
suggested  that  they  were  to  supersede  the  Missouri  prohi 
bition.  At  the  last  session,  (1852-1853,)  a  Nebraska  bill 
passed  the  House,  came  to  the  Senate,  and  was  reported  on 
by  Mr.  Douglas,  who  made  a  speech  in  its  favor  ;  arid  in 
all  not  a  word  was  said  about  a  repeal  by  supersedure. 
The  Senator  from  Missouri,  (Mr.  Atchison,)  had  also  spoken 
upon  the  bill,  and  had  distinctly  declared,  that  the  Missouri 
prohibition  was  not  and  could  not  be  repealed.  The  same  bill 
was  introduced  by  the  Senator  from  Iowa,  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  present  session.  Nor  had  he,  nor  any  other 
rnan  here,  so  far  as  could  be  judged  from  any  discussion, 
or  statement,  or  remark,  even  then  received  the  notion  that 
the  Missouri  prohibition  had  been  superseded.  Nor  had 
Mr.  Douglas'  own  report,  made  only  thirty  days  ago,  (Jan. 
4th,)  expressed  such  opinion.  Besides  all  these,  said  Mr. 
Chase,  the  Committee  on-  Territories  themselves  declared, 
tha*i  it  was  not  wise,  nor  prudent,  nor  right  to  renew  the 
old  controversy,  and  to  rouse  agitation  ;  but  they  would  ab 
stain  from  any  recommendation  of  a  repeal  of  the  prohibition. 

Now  let  the  candid  reader,  from  these  facts,  judge  of  the 


PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  177 

honesty  of  a  Senator,  who  had  the  hardihood  to  insert  in 
his  bill  and  to  advocate  the  declaration,  that  the  Missouri 
restriction  had  been  repealed.  And  the  reader  is  requested 
particularly  to  note  the  fact  above  stated,  that  the  Commit 
tee  would  not  recommend  such  repeal,  as  the  recommendation 
would  "  rouse  agitation."  And  yet,  from  that  day  to  this,  has 
the  Democratic  party,  from  its  leaders  down  to  their 
humblest  followers,  denounced  their  opponents  as  the  au 
thors  of  the  agitation  !  Must  not  the  man  be  either  very 
dishonest  or  grossly  ignorant,  who  charges  the  agitation 
upon  those  who  have  seen  fit  to  resist  the  long  train  of 
flagrant  outrages  which  were  for  years  perpetrated  both  by 
our  higher  "  public  functionaries"  and  the  "  border  ruffians," 
in  their  attempts  to  force  Slavery  into  Kansas  ? 

The  bill  of  Mr.  Douglas  passed  the  Senate,  37  to  14. 

A  bill  had  also  been  reported  in  the  House,  on  the  same 
subject,  for  which  the  bill  of  Mr.  Douglas  was  substituted, 
which  passed.  113  to  100.  Yeas  from  the  Free  States,  44, 
all  Democrats  ;  from  the  Slave  States  69,  of  whom  12  were 
Whigs.  Nays  from  Free  States,  91,  all  Whigs,  except  two 
or  three,  who  were  called  Abolitionists ;  from  Slave  States, 
9 — 7  Whigs,  2  Democrats.  Absent,  and  not  voting,  21. 

The  Slave  Power  having  now,  by  the  aid  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  in  Congress,  headed  by  a  leading  Free  State 
Senator,  broken  down  the  barrier  which  had  for  thirty-four 
years  restricted  Slavery  below  the  Compromise  line  estab 
lished  in  1820,  determined  to  appropriate  the  Territory  to 
its  own  use.  Meetings  were  held  in  various  places,  some 
of  them  attended  by  leading  citizens  of  Missouri,  to  devise 
measures  to  prevent  "  abolitionists,"  (as  they  termed  all 
the  opponents  of  the  extension  of  Slavery,)  from  settling  in 
the  Territory. 

At  one  of  these  meetings,  the  two  following  resolu 
tions — similar  to  those  passed  at  other  meetings — were 
adopted  : 

"  That  we  will  afford  protection  to  no  abolitionist  as  a 
settler  in  this  Territory. 

"  That  we  recognize  the  institution  of  Slavery  as  already 
existing  in  this  Territory,  and  advise  slaveholders  to  intro 
duce  their  property  as  early  as  possible." 

Before  any  election  had  been  held,  a  secret  society  was 


178  DEMOCRATIC    MIRR03 

formed  in  Missouri,  known  by  different  names,  as  "  Social 
Band,"  "Blue  Lodge,"  "  Sons  of  the  South/'  whose  mem 
bers  were  bound  together  by  oaths,  and  had  passwords, 
signs  ar.d  grips,  by  which  they  were  known  to  each  other. 
They  avowed  their  purpose  to  be  to  extend  Slavery  into 
Kansas,  by  organizing  and  sending  men  thither  to  vote  at 
elections.  And  at  the  election  in  November  following, 
(1854,)  for  electing  a  Delegate  to  Congress,  as  the  Con 
gressional  Investigating  Committee  afterwards  reported — 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  rotes  were  cast  ly  non  residents.  Re 
peatedly  did  companies  of  men  go  from  Missouri  into  the 
Territory  to  control  the  elections.  With  arms  they  forced 
their  way  to  the  ballot-box  ;  threatened  judges  of  elections 
if  they  did  not  instantly  resign  ;  and  thus  dispersed  the 
judges,  and  elected  others  in  their  stead.  Ami  because 
the  Governor  set  aside  the  elections  in  some  of  the  districts, 
and  ordered  new  ones,  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  these 
lawless  desperadoes,  who  would  not  attend  the  elections, 
at  which  Free  State  men  were  elected. 

And  what  reason  was  offered  for  those  unlawful  acts  ? 
Men  from  Free  States,  many  of  them  from  New  England, 
under  the  auspices  of  Emigrant  Aid  Societies,  were  settling 
in  the  Territories,  with  the  view,  as  the  "  ruffians"  asserted, 
to  make  Kansas  a  Free  State.  For  such  a  reason,  these  out 
rages  have  been  cither  palliated  or  fully  justified  by  the 
greater  portion  of  the  Democratic  party,  including  the  two 
Presidents  under  whose  administration  the  struggle  for 
Freedom  took  place  ! 

It  is  not  strange  that  a  Legislature  thus  elected  should 
enact  laws  that  would  cause  a  savage  to  blush.  Any  per 
son  writing,  printing,  or  circulating  anything  that  might 
endanger  the  rights  of  the  slaveholder,  by  inducing  his 
slaves  to  escape,  or  in  any  way  assisting  in  such  writing, 
publishing,  &c.,  was  made  liable  to  imprisonment  not  less 
than  five  years.  For  a  free  person  to  assert  that  persons 
had  no  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory,  he  incurred  a 
penalty  of  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  two  years  1  By 
•whom  were  these  inhuman  acts  condemned  ?  Not  by  the 
mass  of  the  Democratic  party,  now  so  alarmed  at  what  they 
consider  violations  of  personal  liberty  and  freedom  of 
Bpeech  1 


PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  179 

A  Convention  was  called,  and  Delegates  chosen  by  the 
Free  State  men,  who  met  at  Topeka  in  October,  and  formed 
a  State  Constitution,  which  was  adopted  by  the  people  in 
December,  by  a  vote  of  1,131  to  46  ;  the  Pro-Slavery  party 
taking-  no  part  in  the  election.  And  when  the  Free  State 
Legislature  met,  the  members  were  dispersed  by  an  armed 
force, 

Congress  met  in  December,  1855.  What  notice  ought 
the  President,  in  his  Message,  to  have  taken  of  the  Kansas 
outrages  ?  He  should  have  unequivocally  condemned  them, 
arid  have  recommended  provision  to  be  made  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  settlers  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights, 
every  candid  man  will  readily  answer.  But  instead  of  this, 
he  charged  the  Free  States  with  a  disregard  of  their  con 
stitutional  obligations,  by  interfering  with  the  domestic 
institutions  of  the  Slave  States,  and  vindicated  the  latter 
from  the  charge  of  aggression  upon  the  rights  and  interests 
of  the  former.  He  also  charged  the  Governor  with  a  want 
of  vigilance,  which  he  assigned  as  one  of  the  causes  for 
which  he  had  removed  him.  He  had  not  done  enough  to 
prevent  or  counteract  the  tendencies  to  illegality  ;  notwith 
standing  the  fact  that  the  Governor  had  endeavored  to  cor 
rect  these  illegalities,  by  ordering  new  elections  ;  arid  this 
is  the  true  reason  why  he  was  regarded  as  not  the  right 
man  for  the  place.  This  is  sufficiently  evident  from  the 
fact,  that  every  Governor  appointed  by  President  Pierce — 
as  also  by  Buchanan — during  the  Kansas  struggle, 
whenever  he  undertook  to  check  ruffianism,  or  to  secure 
fair  'play  to  the  Free  State  party,  was  dismissed  or  com 
pelled  to  resign ! 

In  the  Senate,  the  subject  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Territories,  whose  Chairman,  (Mr.  Douglas,)  reported, 
it  was  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  Committee  to  examine  and  r&- 
view  the  laws  of  the  Kansas  Legislature.  But  it  seemed  rather 
to  be  their  duty  to  indorse  the  Message  of  the  President, 
which  charged  the  blame  upon  those  who  endeavored  to 
establish  free  institutions  in  the  Territor}7,  and  "  to  prevent 
the  free  and  natural  action  of  its  inhabitants  in  its  internal 
organization,  and  thus  to  anticipate  or  to  force  the  deter 
mination  of  that  question  (Slavery)  in  this  inchoate  State." 
And  as  did  the  President,  so  did  Mr.  Douglas,  censure  the 


180  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

Aid  Societies  for  designing  to  force  a  Free  State  into  the 
Union.  The  Committee  uttered  not  a  word  of  condem 
nation  against  the  meetings  held  in  the  Territory  immedi 
ately  after  the  passage  of  the  Kansas  bill,  to  preconcert 
measures  to  keep  Anti-Slavery  men  out  of  the  State.  Bor 
der  Ruffianism  met  no  rebuke,  but  was  rather  justified. 
The  report  stated,  in  substance,  that  the  Missourians  were 
alarmed  by  the  rapid  filling  up  of  Kansas  by  the  opponents 
of  Slavery  ;  that  this  might  endanger  the  institution  in 
that  State  ;  and  that  its  citizens  might  properly  resist  the 
formation  of  an  Anti-Slavery  State  in  their  neighborhood. 
Such  a  report  was  made  by  men  who  were  among  the  ac 
knowledged  leaders  of  a  party  claiming  to  be  Democratic  ; 
and  that  report  has  received  the  approval  of  the  party. 

In  the  House  a  bill  was  reported  by  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pa., 
for  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Topeka  Constitution 
as  a  Free  State.  This  bill  finally  passed  the  House,  99  to 
97.  Mr.  Dunn,  of  Indiana,  afterward  succeeded  in  substi 
tuting  for  this  bill  one  of  his  own,  repealing  that  clause  of 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  act  which  declares  the  Missouri  re 
striction  inoperative  and  void  ;  and  allowing  the  owners  of 
slaves  time  until  the  1st  of  January,  1858,  to  remove  them 
from  the  State.  If  not  permanently  removed  before  that 
time,  the  slaves  were  to  be  free.  This  bill  passed  the 
House,  88  to  74. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  the  slave 
holders  and  their  Northern  allies,  very  naturally  led  to  the 
formation  of  a  new  party.  This  aggressive  act  of  the 
Slave  Power  was  soon  followed  by  organizations  in -some 
of  the  States,  composed  of  the  friends  of  freedom,  irrespec 
tive  of  former  party  connections,  to  resist  the  further  intru 
sion  of  Slavery  upon  free  territory.  And  in  February, 
1856,  a  National  Convention  was  held  at  Pittsburg  to  form 
a  national  party.  Resolutions  were  adopted  containing 
substantially  the  principles  which  subsequently  constituted 
the  basis  of  the  Republican  party. 

The  time  having  arrived  for  the  nomination  of  a  succes 
sor  to  Mr.  Pierce,  the  Democratic  National  Convention  met 
at  Cincinnati  on  the  2d  day  of  June,  1856.  Mr.  Buchanan 
had  been  a  prominent  candidate  in  the  Convention  of  1852, 
having  received,  of  the  four  principle  candidates,  Cass, 


PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  181 

Douglas,  Marcy,  and  himself,  on  the  first  19  ballots,  next 
to  Gen.  Cass,  the  highest  number  of  votes.  Mr.  Pierce  re 
ceived  the  nomination  only  because  the  Convention  was 
unable  to  agree  upon  any  other  candidate. 

Mr.  Buchanan  had  bowed  as  humbly  before  the  Slave 
Power  for  twenty  years  as  any  Northern  man  had  ever 
done.  And  although  he  had  failed  in  1852,  he  did  not  re 
linquish  the  hope  of  yet  attaining  the  coveted  honor  of  a 
nomination  for  the  Presidency.  He  was  appointed  by  Mr. 
Pierce,  as  Minister  to  Great  Britain.  Before  his  departure 
for  England,  he  made  one  more  low  conge,  to  his  Southern 
master,  as  if  to  assure  him  of  his  continued  loyalty  during 
his  absence.  Whether  remembered  or  not,  while  abroad,  it  is 
certain  that  He  did  not  forget  his  master.  A  conference  was 
held  at  Ostend,  by  himself  and  our  Ministers  to  France  and 
Spain,  Mason  and  Sou'e,  at  which  the  project  wo.s  discussed, 
of  acquiring  Cuba  for  annexation  to  the  United  States,  the 
price  named  for  the  purchase  being  150  or  200  millions  of 
dollars.  These  three  gentlemen  accordingly  issued  a  Mani 
festo,  in  which  they  said  :  "  After  we  shall  have  offered 
Spain  a  price  for  Cuba  far  beyond  its  present  value,  and 
this  shall  have  been  refused,  it  will  then  be  time  to  con 
sider  the  question  :  Does  Cuba,  in  the  possession  of  Spain, 
seriously  endanger  our  internal  peace,  and  the  existence  of 
our  cherished  Union  ?  Should  this  question  be  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  then,  by  every  law,  human  and  divine, 
we  shall  be  justified  in  wresting  it  from  Spain,  if  we  have  the 
fiower."  Stronger  evidence  it  was  hardly  possible  to  give 
of  devotion  to  Southern  interests  than  had  been  repeatedly 
given  by  him. 

Mr.  Buchanan  resigned  his  mission  in  season  to  return 
and  attend  to  the  great  object  of  his  political  aspirations. 
He  was  successful.  On  the  first  ballot,  the  vote  was,  for 
Buchanan,  135;  for  Pierce,  122;  for  Douglas,  33;  for 
Cass,  5.  After  a  few  ballots,  the  friends  of  Pierce  gradu 
ally  transferred  their  votes  to  Douglas.  On  the  16th  bal 
lot,  Buchanan  received  168  votes  ;  Douglas  121  ;  Cass 
C.  On  the  next  ballot,  all  the  votes,  296,  were  for 
Buchanan. 

Mr.  Pierce  had  served  the  slaveholders  most  faithfully. 
Whether  he  was  surpassed  ID  his  fidelity  to  their  interests 


182  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

by  liis  successor,  let  the  history  of  the  next  administra 
tion  decide. 

As  a  Platform,  the  Convention  adopted  the  leading  prin 
ciples  declared  by  former  Conventions,  with  numerous  ad 
ditional  resolutions,  directed  against  the  American  party, 
"  which  bases  its  exclusive  organization  upon  religious 
opinions  and  accidental  birth-place  ;"  and  against  the  Re 
publican  party,  as  "  sectional,"  and  "  seeking  to  embroil 
the  States  and  incite  to  treason  and  armed  resistance  in 
the  Territories."  They  also  adopted,  as  a  principle,  "  non 
interference  by  Congress  with  Slavery  in  the  Territories  or 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  approved  the  "  Monroe  Doc 
trine  ;"  "  sympathized  with  the  efforts  of  the  people  of 
Central  America,  to  regulate  that  portion  of  the  continent 
which  covers  the  passage  across  the  inter-oceanic  isthmus  ;" 
meaning,  it  is  presumed,  the  attempt  of  the  fillibusterer, 
Walker,  to  revolutionize  that  country;  and  "expect  of 
the  next  administration  every  proper  effort  to  insure  our 
ascendancy  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ;"  in  plain  language,  to 
acquire  Cuba  as  plunder  from  Spain. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  was  held  in  Phila 
delphia  on  the  17th  of  June.  Messrs.  Seward,  Fremont, 
Banks,  and  Judge  M'Lean,  were  candidates.  Mr.  Seward, 
as  was  announced  before  the  balloting  commenced,  had  re 
quested  the  withdrawal  of  his  name.  Col.  Fremont  was, 
after  several  ballots,  declared  unanimously  nominated. 

The  resolutions  adopted  as  the  Republican  Platform, 
"  deny  the  authority  of  Congress,  or  of  a  Territorial  Legis 
lature,  to  give  legal  existence  to  Slavery  in  any  Territory  ;" 
claim  for  Congress  "sovereign  power  over  the  Territories 
for  their  government  f  charge  Pierce's  administration  with 
sanctioning  violations  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
people  of  Kansas,  enumerating  many  of  the  outrages,  mur 
ders,  &c.  ;  condemned  the  Ostend  Circular  as  unworthy  of 
American  diplomacy,  embodying  "  the  highwayman's  plea, 
'  might  makes  right  ;;  n  declare  a  Railroad  to  the  Paciiic  to 
be  imperatively  demanded  ;  and  "appropriations  b^ Con 
gress  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  01  a  na 
tional  character,  required  for  the  accommodation  and 
security  of  existing  commerce,  to  be  authorized  by  tho 
Constitution." 


PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  183 

Mr.  Buchanan  received  the  electoral  votes  of  all  the  Slavo 
States,  except  Maryland,  and  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  California;  in  all,  174  votes.  Mr.  Fill- 
more,  candidate  of  the  American  party,  received  the  votes  ot 
the  electors  of  Maryland,  8.  Col.  John  C.  Fremont  received 
the  votes  of  all  the  Free  States,  except  the  five  before  men 
tioned,  11 1. 

The  last  session  of  Congress  under  Mr.  Pierce,  met  the  1st 
of  December,  1856.  The  President  in  noticing  the  election 
just  past,  says,  "  the  people  have  asserted  the  constitutional 
equality  of  all  the  States,"  and  "have  condemned  the  idea  of 
organizing  more  geographical  parties."  He  censured  those 
who  "  seek  to  prevent  the  spread  of  Slavery  into  the  present 
or  future  States  of  the  Union ;"  says,  "  they  endeavor  to  pre 
pare  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  civil  war ;"  that  "  vio 
lent  attack  from  the  North"  begets  "a  spirit  of  angry  defiance 
at  the  South."  He  mentions  as  among  "  the  long  series  of 
acts  of  indirect  aggression"  upon  the  South,  the  "  objecting  to 
the  admission  of  Missouri"  as  a  Slave  State,  and  the  prohibit 
ing  of  Slavery  in  Territories;  and  he  attributes  the  disturb 
ances  in  Kansas  to  the  u  unjust  interference  on  the  part  of 
persons  not  inhabitants  of  the  Territory."  Of  course  he  does 
not  mean  by  these  officious  "  persons"  the  Missourians  who 
went  thither  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  "  interfering"  with  the 
elections  !  Again  there  is  no  utterance  of  condemnation 
against  the  violence  and  the  frauds  committed  by  the  Missouri 
intruders  or  the  Pro-Slavery  residents,  who  cooperated  with 
them  in  their  atrocities. 

Who  can  contemplate  such  servility  to  the  Slave  Power  as 
is  manifested  in  the  Messages  and  acts  of  this  President,  with 
out  disgust  and  indignation  ?  But  he  has  already  received  a 
large  installment  of  deserved  retribution.  Mr.  Pierce  and  his 
successor  can  hardly  fail  to  see,  that,  by  their  making  common 
cause  with  the  South  against  the  advocates  of  freedom  in  tho 
North,  not  merely  conniving  at,  but  positively  aiding  in  carry 
ing  out  their  flagitious  purpose  of  subjecting  Free  Territory  to 
the  dominion  of  Slavery,  they  have  encouraged  the  slavehold 
ers  in  their  insolent  demands  upon  the  North  for  further  con 
cessions,  the  denial  of  which  was  made  the  occasion  of  tho 
Rebellion,  for  which  they — these  Northern  Democratic  lead 
ers — are  to  be  held  in  a  great  measure  responsible. 


184  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

Again  Congress  failed  to  pass  a  law  for  the  benefit  of 
Kansas.  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pa.,  reported  lo  the  House  a  bill,  de 
claring  the  acts  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  to  be  a  viola 
tion  of  the  organic  act,  and  therefore  of  no  effect,  and  requir 
ing  the  Governor  to  order  an  election  for  choosing  members 
of  a  new  Legislature,  and  providing  against  unlawful  and 
fraudulent  voting.  This  bill  passed  the  House,  98  to  79.  The 
Yeas,  92  Kepublicans  and  6  Fillmore  men,  were  all  from 
Free  States.  Of  the  Nays,  65  were  from  Slave  States,  and  14 
from  Free  States  ;  20  Fillmore  Americans,  and  59  Democrats. 

In  the  Senate,  the  bill  was  laid  on  the  table,  30  to  20. 
Yeas,  from  Slave  States,  22  ;  from  Free  States,  8.  Nays, 
from  Free  States,  18  ;  from  Slave  States,  2. 

Notwithstanding  these  failures  to  provide  relief  for  Kan 
sas,  its  condition  had  been  improved  under  the  administra 
tion  of  Gov.  John  W.  Geary,  who  had  been  appointed  in  July, 
1856.  It  being  understood  that  he  intended  to  side  with 
neither  party,  the  Pro-Slavery  leaders  published  an  address, 
in  which  they  complained  that  they  had  not  found  in  him  such  a 
successor  as  they  had  asked  ;  and  they  feared  that  "  he  would 
prove  no  more  efficient  than  his  predecessors,"  (Keeder  and 
Shannon.)  They  therefore  hastened  to  gather  an  army  from 
Missouri  and  other  Slave  States  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Governor.  Acting-Governor  Woodson,  by  proclamation,  de 
clared  the  Territory  in  a  state  of  rebellion  and  insurrection, 
and  called  upon  the  militia  and  other  citizens  to  aid  in  put 
ting  down  and  punishing  the  insurrectionists. 

Gov.  Geary  arrived.  He  ordered  a  restoration  of  property; 
declared  publicly  his  intentions  to  do  justice  to  all  classes  ; 
and  advised  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  Free  State  men, 
as  they  could  ask  the  next  Legislature  to  revise  the  laws. 
He  endeavored  also  to  increase  the  energy  of  the  judges, 
whose  inefficiency  had  become  notorious. 

In  January,  1857,  the  Free  State  Legislature  met  at  To- 
peka;  but  a  large  portion  of  its  members  were  arrested  by  a 
deputy  marshal,  and  the  session  was  broken  up.  The  Terri 
torial  Legislature  met  the  next  week  at  Lecompton  ;  and  as 
the  Free  State  men  had  taken  no  part  in  the  election,  both 
bodies  were  entirely  Pro-Slavery.  Gov.  Geary  recom 
mended  the  repeal  of  some  objectionable  acts;  but  his  recom 
mendation  was  disregarded.  An  act  was  passed  to  provide  for 


PIERCE'S  ADMINISTRATION.  185 

electing  a  Convention  to  frame  a  Constitution ;  the  election  to 
be  held  in  June,  and  the  Delegates  to  meet  at  Lecompton  in 
September.  None  were  to  be  allowed  to  vote  who  were  not 
in  the  Territory  on  or  before  the  15th  of  March.  This  was 
designed  to  shut  out  the  votes  of  the  Free  State  men,  who  had 
fled  from  their  homes  during  the  distal bances  of  the  past  year, 
and  would  be  unable  to  return  before  that  day.  Another  ob 
jection  was  the  Constitution  was  not  to  be  submitted  to  the 
people  for  their  sanction  or  rejection.  The  Governor  had  in 
formed  certain  members,  before  its  passage,  that  if  this  objec 
tion  should  be  removed,  he  would  waive  other  objections,  and 
approve  the  bill.  They  replied,  that  this  would  defeat  the  ob 
ject  of  the  act,  which  was  to  secure  Kansas  to  the  South  as  a 
Slave  State  The  bill  was  passed,  vetoed,  and  again  passed, 
and  became  a  law. 

Another  act.  was  passed  for  the  election  of  a  new  Legisla 
ture,  in  October,  all  persons  not  in  the  Territory  by  the  15th 
of  March,  being  again  excluded. 

Gov.  Geary,  thinking  that  he  was  not  duly  sustained  by  the 
Government,  resigned  his  office  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Pierce's 
administration. 


186  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Administration  of  James   Buchanan. 

JAJIES  BUCHANAN  commenced  his  Presidential  teim  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1857. 

We  come  now  to  a  new  Chapter  in  the  history  of  Pro- 
Slavery  Democracy.  A  new  plank  is  inserted  in  the  Demo 
cratic  Platform.  The  time-honored  doctrine  held  and  prac 
ticed  by  the  political  Fathers,  that  Congress  had  power  over 
Slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  that,  being  against  natural 
right,  it  could  exist  only  by  special,  positive  enactment,  was 
superseded,  in  1848,  by  a,  new  article  in  the  Democratic  creed, 
introduced  by  Gen.  Cass,  known  by  the  now  familiar  name  of 
"popular,"  or  "squatter  sovereignty;"  which  places  the 
power  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  tl.e  people  of  the  Territories. 
This  principle  was  sought  to  be  carried  into  effect  by  Mr. 
Douglas  in  his  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which  proposed  "  to 
leave  the  people  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  insti 
tutions  in  their  own  way." 

President  Buchanan,  in  his  Inaugural  Address,  announced, 
as  about  to  appear,  still  another  improvement  in  the  Pro- 
Slavery  Platform.  Slavery  in  the  Territories  had  been  found 
to  be  a  judicial  question,  belonging  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  before  whom  it  was  now  pending,  and 
would  be  speedily  and  finally  settled.  lie  did  not,  however, 
inform  the  public  what  the  decision  was  to  be,  although  he 
probably  knew.  He  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that,  under  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  act,  the  proper  time  for  the  people  of  a  Ter 
ritory  to  determine  the  question  would  be  when  the  number 
of  residents  in  the  Territory  should  justify  the  formation  of  a 
Constitution  with  a  view  to  admission  as  a  State.  The  non 
intervention  doctrine  of  Cass  and  Douglas  had  been  under 
stood  to  concede  to  the  people,  represented  in  their  Legisla 
ture,  full  power  over  Slavery.  But  this  doctrine  was  by  the 
Inaugural  scattered  to  the  winds.  Nobody  ever  doubted  the 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  1ST 

right  of  the  people  to  delude  Slavery  on  adopting1  a  Consti 
tution.  But  if  this  is  THE  way  to  do  it,  it  must  be  out  of 
the  power  of  the  Territorial  Legislature. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  however,  was  wrong  in  saying  that  this 
question  was  now  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court  ;  that  is, 
judicially.  The  question  "  legitimately"  before  the  Court  was 
one  which  involved  the  right  of  Dred  Scott  and  his  family 
to  freedom.  The  Court,  (according  to  previous  under 
standing,  as  some  believe,)  two  days  after  the  Inaugura 
tion  pronounced  judgment,  reversing  the  judgment  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  St.  Louis  County,  and  directed  the  dismis 
sal  of  the  suit  for  want  of  jurisdiction.  Scott's  master  had 
taken  him  into  Illinois  and  Minnesota,  and  remained  with 
him  in  free  territory  for  several  years.  It  had  been  held, 
until  now,  that  a  Slave  taken  by  his  master  into  a  free 
State,  became  free.  Some  readers  may  desire  to  know 
upon  what  ground  Chief  Justice  Taney  based  his  new  de 
cision.  It  was,  that  free  negroes,  whose  ancestors  were 
slaves,  could  neier  Income,  citizens.  The"  Constitution  did  not 
recognize  them  as  citizens.  He  said  :  "  They  had  fur  more 
than  a  century  been  regarded  as  beings  of  an  inferior  order, 
and  altogether  unfit  to  associate  with  the  white  race,  either 
in  moral  or  political  relations  ;  and  so  far  inferior,  that  then 
had  TIO  rights  which  the  while  man  was  bound  to  respxt ;  and  the 
negro  might  justly  and  lawfully  be  reduced  to  Slavery  for  his  bene 
fit"  The  reader  may  ask  :  What  relation  had  this  decision 
to  the  question  of  power  over  Slavery  in  the  Territories  ? 
None  at  all.  The  "  decision"  to  which  the  President  pro 
bably  alluded,  was  a  volunteer  opinion  of  the  Judges,  wholly 
extra-judicial.  The  doctrine  of  "popular  sovereignty,"  it 
was  found,  was  not  likely  to  secure  the  establishment  of 
Slavery  in  Kansas  ;  and  it  might  hereafter  prove  equally 
ineffectual  in  other  territory.  The  people  could  not  be 
tiusted  to  settle  and  regulate  "their  own  institutions." 
Slaveholders  wanted  some  improvement  in  the  Democratic 
creed  which  would  authorize  them  to  carry  their  slaves  in 
to  all  territory  "  without  let  or  hindrance."  Their  wish 
was  gratified.  The  Supreme  Court  Judges  gave  it  as  their 
opinion,  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  unconstitutional ; 
that  Congress  had  no  power  over  Slavery  in  the  Territories  ; 
and  that  slaveholders  have  the  right  to  take  their  slaves 


188  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

into  an}'  territory  os  any  other  property.  A  few  ultra 
Southern  statesmen  had  been  bold  enough  to  assert  this 
doctrine  ;  but  it  remained  for  the  Judges  of  the  highest 
judicial  tribunal  of  the  Union  to  come  to  their  help  by  giv* 
ing  them  the  benefit  of  the  weight  of  their  opinion.  Judi 
cially  it  decides  nothing,  as  there  was  no  case  of  this  kind 
before  them  as  a  Court  for  decision.  Folititally,  it  had  the 
effect  of  encouraging  the  Pro-Slavery  party  in  their  at 
tempts  to  extend  Slavery,  as  they  were  assured  that  the 
question  of  their  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territories,  if 
such  question  should  ever  be  tried,  would  be  decided  in 
their  favor. 

The  minority  Justices  maintained  the  old  doctrine  estab 
lished  by  the  Courts,  and  held  by  eminent  statesmen,  North 
and  South,  that  "  all  Slavery  has  its  origin  in  power,  and 
is  against  right  ;"  that  it  requires,  as  essential  to  its  exist 
ence,  municipal  regulations,  which  the  Constitution  has 
neither  made  nor  provided  for.  In  eight  distinct  instances, 
beginning  with  the  first  Congress,  has  Congress  excluded 
Slavery  from  territory  of  the  United  States  ;  and  in  six 
distinct  instances  in  which  Congress  organized  govern 
ments  for  territories,  has  Slavery  been  recognized  and  con 
tinued,  beginning  also  with  the  tirst  Congress,  and  coming 
down  to  the  year  1822.  These  acts  were  severally  signed 
by  seven  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  beginning  with 
Gen.  Washington,  and  coming  down  as  far  as  John  Quincy 
Adams  ;  thus  including  all  who  were  in  public  life  when 
the  Constitution  was  adopted.  Hence  they  inferred  that, 
by  taking  the  plaintiff  into  a  State  where  Slavery  was  pro 
hibited,  he  became  free. 

Mr.  Buchanan  appointed  Itobert  J.  Walker,  of  Miss., 
Governor  of  Kansas,  to  succeed  J.  W.  Geary  ;  and  Fred 
erick  P.  Stan  tori,  of  Tenn.,  was  appointed  Secretary.  Mr. 
Stanton,  who  arrived  first  in  Kansas,  as  well  as  Gov. 
Walker  after  his  arrival,  advised  the  Free  State  men  to 
take  a  part  in  the  election  of  Delegates  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention,  assuring  them  that  there  should  be  a  fair  elec 
tion.  But  they  declined.  Many,  however,  were  induced  to 
vote  at  the  October  Territorial  election.  Gov.  Walker  ad 
mitted  the  unfairness  of  the  apportionment,  by  which  some 
Free  State  Counties  were  not  allowed  a  Representative  in 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  189 

either  branch  of  the  Legislature  ;  but  he  promised  to  pro 
tect  the  polls  against  illegal  voters.  The  result  was,  that 
the  Free  State  Delegate  to  Congress,  nine  of  the  thirteen 
Councilmen,  and  twenty -seven  of  the  thirty-nine  Represen 
tatives,  were  elected  by  the  Free  State  party  I 

The  Constitution  framed  at  Lecompton,  affirmed  the  right 
of  slave-owners  to  hold  their  slaves  in  the  Territory  as 
other  property,  and  prohibited  laws  for  the  emancipating 
slaves  without  the  consent  of  their  owners,  or  without  pay 
ment  being  made  for  them.  It  also  prohibited  laws  to 
prevent  emigrants  to  the  State  from  bringing  with  them 
their  slaves. 

Prominent  among  the  efforts  of  the  Pro-Slavery  party  to 
force  Slavery  upon  the  people  of  Kansas,  was  the  "  Le 
compton  swindle,"  as  it  was  familiarly  termed.  The  peo 
ple  were  not  allowed  to  vote  for  or  against  the  Constitu 
tion.  Only  the  Slavery  sections  were  submitted,  and  these 
in  such  a  manner  that  every  person  voting  musf  vote  for 
the  Constitution.  The  ballots  were  to  be  indorsed,  "  Con 
stitution  with  Slavery,"  or  "  Constitution  with  no  Slavery." 
So  obnoxious  were  some  of  its  provisions,  that  many  Demo 
crats  were  opposed  to  it,  among  whom  was  Mr.  Douglas 
himself,  who  desired  that  the  people  should  have  a  fair 
opportunity  of  voting  on  the  question  of  its  adoption. 
Every  voter,  if  challenged,  must  take  an  oath  to  support 
the  Constitution,  if  adopted.  It  was  to  be  in  force  after  its 
ratification  by  the  people,  before,  it  could  receive  the  sanction  of 
Congress,  and  required  an  election,  as  soon  as  possible,  for 
State  officers,  members  of  the  Legislature,  and  a  Delegate 
to  Congress ;  the  object  of  which  was,  to  supersede  the  Repub 
lican  incumbents  recently  elected.  It  also  prevented  the  present 
Anti-Slavery  Legislature  from  repealing  the  laws  of  the  old 
Territorial  Legislature.  And  it  prohibited  any  amendment 
previous  to  1864,  until  which  time  Slavery  might  not  be 
abolished. 

Gov.  Walker  having,  in  pursuance  of  instructions  from 
Mr.  Buchanan,  pledged  his  efforts  to  procure  its  submission 
to  the  popular  vote,  and  having  failed,  the  Free  State  party 
determined  to  put  their  own  government  into  operation,  at 
all  events  :  and  the  peace  of  the  Territory  was  seriously 
threatened.  Gov.  Walker  had  gone  to  Washington  to  con- 


190  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

fcr  with  the  President  upon  the  subject  ;  but  had  found,  on 
his  arrival,  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  already  given  the  Le- 
compton  scheme  his  approval  !  Before,  however,  this  fact 
could  be  communicated  to  Kansas,  Secretary  Stanton,  (then 
Acting-Governor,)  had  (December  3d,)  called  the  new 
Legislature  to  meet  on  the  7th,  to  provide  for  a  direct  vote 
upon  the  Constitution  on  the  21st.  The  President,  on  be 
ing  informed  of  this  act,  removed  Mr.  Stanton,  and  appoint 
ed  J.  W.  Denver  in  his  stead. 

The  President  had  said  in  his  instructions  to  Gov. 
Walker,  that  "  unless  the  Convention  should  submit  the 
Constitution  to  the  vote  of  all  the  actual  settlers  of  Kansas, 
and  the  election  should  be  fairly  conducted,  the  Constitution 
ought  to  be,  and,  he  believed,  would  be  rejected  by  Con 
gress."  But  Gov.  Walker,  finding  himself  not  sustained  by 
the  President,  resigned  his  office  rather  than  return  to  Kan 
sas,  and  force  the  President  to  remove  him  for  disobedience 
to  his  instructions.  In  his  letter  of  resignation,  addressed 
to  the  State  Department,  he  gave  a  statement  of  the  unfair 
apportionment  of  the  Delegates,  the  omission  of  many  coun 
ties  from  the  registry,  and  the  taking  of  the  census  in  less 
than  ore  half  of  them,  &c.,  &c. 

The  Free  State  men  not  voting,  the  result  was,  "  For  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  with.  Slavery,"  6,143  j  "  For  the  Le- 
compton  Constitution  without  Slavery,"  569.  Many  votes 
were  alleged  to  have  been  illegal.  The  Territorial  Legisla 
ture  convened  by  Gov.  Stanton,  ordered  an  election  two 
wei'ks  later,  (Jan.  4th,  1858.)  at  which  the  vote  was,  "For  the 
Constitution  with  Slavery,"  138  ;  "  For  the  Constitution 
without  Slavery,"  24  ;  "Against  the  Constitution,"  10,226  I 

The  election  of  State  officers,  &c.,  provided  for  by  the 
Constitution,  was  held  on  the  4th  of  January.  Only  a  por 
tion  of  the  Free  State  party  voted.  Calhoun,  President  of 
the  Convention,  with  men  of  his  own  selection,  canvassed 
the  election  returns,  and  reported  the  election  of  the  entire 
Stite  ticket  by  an  average  majority  of  about  500,  and  tvvo- 
ihirds  of  the  Legislature.  One  or  more  men  were  arrested 
fur  getting  up  fraudulent  returns  ;  and  Calhoun,  having  re 
fused  to  appear  as  witness,  and  having  been  arrested  on  a 
writ  of  attach  men  t,  escaped  to  Washington.  So  gross  were 
the  frauds  represented  to  be  on  the  authority  of  both  Mr. 


191 

Stanton  and  Gov.  Denver,  that  certificates  of  election  were 
granted  to  Free  State  candidates. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1858,  President  Buchanan  trans 
mitted  a  copy  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  to  Congress. 
In  his  accompanying  Message,  he  said  a  part  of  the  people 
of  Kansas  were  "  in  a  state  of  rebellion,"  and  had  "  done 
all  they  could  to  overthrow  the  Government  established  by 
Congress."  And  in  the  face  of  all  the  facts,  and  especially 
of  that  most  unfair  mode  of  presenting  the  question  of 
Slavery,  which  denied  the  people  the  privilege  of  voting 
against  the  Constitution  at  all,  he  said  the  election  of  the 
21st  of  December,  had  "  afforded  them  opportunities,  if  in 
the  majority,  of  making  Kansas  a  Free  State  according  to 
their  own  professed  desire."  And  he  pronounced  the  whole 
movement  legal  and  fair  I  He  said,  too,  that  it  had  been 
adjudged  by  our  highest  judicial  tribunal,  that  Slavery 
exists  in  Kansas  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  •'  Kansas  is  therefore,  at  this  moment,  as 
much  a  Slave  State  as  Georgia  or  South  Carolina." 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Territories  reported  a  bill  for 
the  admission  of  Kansas.  Mr.  Douglas  dissented,  and  made 
a  separate  report.  He  said  there  was  no  evidence  that  the 
Constitution  was  the  act  and  deed  of  the  people  of  Kansas. 
The  only  lawful  election  was  that  held  on  the  4th  of  Janu 
ary,  which  had  rejected  it. 

Mr.  Douglas  opposed  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,  not  because  it  authorized  Slavery  ; 
for  he  said  he  did  not  care  whether  it  was  voted  down  or 
voted  up';  but  because  the  administration  was  opposed  to 
his  favorite  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  upon,  which 
the  administration  had  come  into  power. 

To  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  people  of  Kansas  to 
the  Lecompton  Constitution,  Congress  made  to  them  a  pro 
position  in  the  nature  of  a  bribe.  The  proposition  was,  to 
admit  Kansas  with  her  Pro-Slavery  Constitution,  and  to 
grant  to  the  State  large  quantities  of  land  lor  the  support 
of  schools  and  a  university,  for  public  buildings,  &c.  ;  the 
salt  springs,  not  exceeding  twelve  ;  and  five  per  cent,  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  for  making 
roads  and  internal  improvements.  These  propositions  were 
to  be  voted  on  at  an  election,  each  ballot  to  be  indorsed, 


192  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

"  For  proposition  of  Congress  and  admission,"  or  "  Against 
proposition  of  Congress  and  admission."  And  as  an  ad 
ditional  inducement  to  accept  the  proposition,  the  admis 
sion  was  to  be  immediate  ;  but  if  the  proposition  should  bo 
rejected,  admission  was  to  be  deferred  until  the  population 
should  be  equal  to  the  ratio  of  representation,  which  was 
then  about  93,000,  which  number  might  not  be  reached  for 
years.  At  the  election,  (Aug.  2,  1858,)  there  were,  to  accept 
the  proposition,  1,788  votes  ;  to  reject  it,  11,088. 

The  President,  in  his  next  Annual  Message,  (December, 
1858,)  again  speaks  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution  as  un 
exceptionable  in  its  general  features,  and  as  having  pro 
vided  for  submitting  the  Slavery  question  to  the  people  ; 
and  charged  its  opponents  with  preferring  a  continuance  of 
Slavery  to  a  surrender  of  their  revolutionary  organization. 
Having  twice  rejected  the  Constitution,  they  should  have 
no  authority  to  form  another,  until  they  should  have 
a  population  equal  to  the  ratio  required  for  a  Repre 
sentative. 

The  vindictiveuess  of  the  President  and  his  friends  in 
Congress  towards  the  people  of  Kansas,  was  further 
evinced  by  their  treatment  of  the  application  from  Oregon 
for  admission.  The  population  of  this  Territory  was  less 
than  that  of  Kansas  5  yet  this  was  not  made  an  objection 
to  its  admission,  while  Kansas  was  to  be  punished  by  being 
kept  out  of  the  Union  for  an  indefinite  period. 

Gov.  Denver  having  resigned,  Samuel  Medary,  of  Ohio, 
was  appointed  as  his  successor,  and  entered  upon  his  duties 
in  December,  1858.  The  Territorial  Legislature  met  in 
January,  1859.  An  act  was  passed  repealing  the  obnox 
ious  laws  of  the  first  Legislature,  called  the  "  bogus  laws  ;" 
also  an  act  for  submitting  to  the  people  the  question  of  a 
new  Constitutional  Convention  at  an  election  to  be  held  on 
the  3d  Monday  in  March  ;  and  a  bill'  to  abolish  and  pro 
hibit  Slavery,  which,  however,  failed,  having  been  passed 
at  so  late  a  day  as  to  enable  the  Governor  to  defeat  it,  by 
refusing  to  sign  and  return  it. 

At  the  election  in  March,  the  majority  in  favor  of  a  Con 
vention  was  nearly  4,000.  Of  the  Delegates  chosen  at  the 
election  in  June,  35  were  Republicans,  17  were  Democrats. 
The  Convention  met  at  Wyandot  on  the  5th  of  July,  and 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  193 

adjourned  on  the  27th,  after  adopting  a  Constitution  by  a 
vote  of  34  to  13.  All  the  Democrats  present  voted  against 
it,  and  refused  to  sign  it.  It  prohibited  Slavery.  In  Oc 
tober,  it  was  ratified  by  a  majority  of  about  4,-000.  The 
Democrats  professed  to  be  opposed  to  making  Kansas  a 
Slave  State,  and  to  be  in  favor  of  Mr.  Douglas'  Territorial 
sovereignty  doctrine.  They  desired  the  annexation  to  Kan 
sas  of  that  part  of  Nebraska  south  of  the  Platte  ;  the  retain 
ing  of  the  gold  region  about  Pike's  Peak  ;  the  exclusion  of 
free  negroes  from  the  State,  and  the  prohibition  of  bank 
issues  ;  in  all  of  which  they  had  been  defeated. 

The  President,  in  his  Annual  Message,  December,  1859, 
did  not  recommend  the  admission  of  Kansas  with  her  new 
Constitution,  as  he  had  done  the  year  before  with  a  Slavery 
Constitution.  But  he  again  "  cordially  congratulates"  Con 
gress  "  upon  the  final  settlement,  by  the  Supreme  Court,  of 
the  question  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories  ;"  which  gave 
to  every  citizen  "  the  right  to  take  his  property  of  any 
kind,  including  slaves,  into  the  common  Territories,  and  to 
have  it  protected  there  under  the  Federal  Constitution. 
Neither  Congress  nor  a  Territorial  Legislature,  nor  any 
human  power,  has  any  authority  to  annul  or  impair  this 
vested  right."  Hereafter,  when  a  Territory  shall  have  a' suffi 
cient  population  to  form  a  State,  they  may  exercise  the  right 
3f  Popular  Sovereignty  in  forming  a  State  Constitution 
preparatory  to  admission. 

The  House  passed  a  bill  for  the  admission  of  Kansas 
under  the  Wyandot  Constitution,  134  to  13.  In  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Seward  introduced  a  bill  for  this  purpose,  which,  after 
considerable  delay,  was  rejected,  27  to  32.  Of  the  Yeas, 
2  were  Democrats  ;  Nays,  all  Democrats.  So  Kansas  was 
left  still  in  the  condition  of  a  Territory. 

For  some  years  past,  efforts  have  been  made  to  keep  the 
Public  Lands  from  going  into  the  hands  of  monopolists  and 
speculators.  Millions  of  acres  have  been  bought  in  large 
tracts  on  speculation  ;  and  persons  wishing  to  purchase 
lands  in  small  quantities  for  actual  occupation,  have  been 
compelled  to  pay  exorbitant  prices,  or  seek  farms  in  less 
desirable  localities.  For  the  benefit  of  the  poorer  class  of 
laboring  men,  preemption  acts  have  been  passed.  Attempts 
have  also  been  made  to  procure  the  passage  of  a  law, 


194  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

granting  gratuitously,  or  for  a  merely  nominal  price,  to 
every  actual  settler,  a  limited  quantity  of  land  as  a  Home 
stead.  The  selling  of  large  tracts  to  speculators  is  deemed 
objectionable  as  leading  to  a  landed  aristocracy.  But  the 
division  of  land  into  small  freeholds  is  unfavorable  to  the 
existence  of  Slavery.  Hence,  this  policy  has  been  opposed 
by  the  South  and  the  Democratic  party. 

In  January,  1859,  a  bill  relating  to  preemptions  being 
under  consideration  in  the  House,  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pa.,  moved 
to  amend  the  bill  by  adding  a  section,  providing,  "  that  no 
public  land  shall  be  exposed  to  sale  by  proclamation  of 
the  President,  unless  the  same  shall  have  been  surveyed, 
and  the  return  of  each  survey  duly  filed  in  the  Land  Office, 
for  ten  years  or  more  before  such  sale."  The  effect  of  this 
amendment  would  be  to  open  these  lands  to  preemption  ten 
years  before  they  could  get  into  the  hands  of  the  specu 
lator  ;  thus  giving  the  industrious  settler  time  to  pay  for 
his  farm  from  the  products  of  the  soil. 

To  defeat  this  amendment,  a  motion  was  made  to  refer 
the  bill  and  amendment  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
where  it  would  probably  have  been  buried  for  the  session. 
The  motion  failed  :  Yeas,  90  ;  Nays,  92.  The  amendment 
was  then  adopted  :  Yeas,  98  ;  Nays,  81.  AH  the  Repub 
licans  present  voted  in  the  affirmative,  together  with  18 
Democrats.  Mr.  Blair,  of  Missouri,  Republican,  was  the 
only  member  from  a  Slave  State  who  voted  for  the  bill.  Of 
the  votes  from  the  Slave  States,  all  but  9  were  in  the  nega 
tive.  The  question  was  then  taken  upon  the  passage  of 
the  bill,  and  lost  :  Yeas,  91  ;  Nays,  95.  Of  those  who 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  80  were  Republicans,  9  Democrats, 
and  1,  (Mr.  Davis,  of  Md.,)  American.  Of  those  who  voted 
in  the  negative,  85  were  Democrats,  and  1 0  were  Ameri 
cans  ;  all  of  the  latter  being  from  Slave  States.  Of  the 
Democrats,  26  were  from  the  Free  States.  Of  the  9  South 
ern  members  who  had  voted  for  Mr.  Grow's  amendment, 
all  but  Mr.  Blair  voted  against  the  bill ;  from  which  it 
would  appear  that  they  were  opposed  to  the  amendment, 
though  they  voted  for  it. 

Both  of  the  members  from  Minnesota,  (Cavanaugh  and 
Phelps,)  expressed  their  high  displeasure  at  the  vote  of 
their  political  friends.  Mr.  C.  said  : 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  195 

"  With  reference  to  the  vote  on  this  bill  to-day,  with  an 
overwhelming1  majority  of  this  side  of  the  House  voting- 
against  my  colleague  and  myself,  voting  against  this  bill, 
I  say  it  frankly,  I  say  it  in  sorrow,  that  it  was  to  the  Re 
publican  side  of  the  House  to  whom  we  were  compelled  to 
look  for  support  of  this  just  and  honorable  measure.  Gen 
tlemen  from  the  South,  who  have  broad  acres  and  wide 
plantations,  aided  here  to-day  by  their  votes  more  to  make 
Republican  States  in  the  North,  than  by  any  vote  which 
has  been  cast  within  the  last  two  years.  These  gentlemen 
came  here  to  ask  us  to  support  the  South  ;  yet  they,  to  a 
man  almost,  vote  against  the  free,  independent  labor  of  the 
North  and  West. 

"  I,  Sir,  have  inherited  my  Democracy  ;  have  been  at 
tached  to  the  Democratic  party  from  my  boyhood,  have 
believed  in  the  great  truths  as  enunciated  by  the  '  fathers 
of  the  faith.'  .  .  .  But,  Sir,  when  I  see  Southern  gen 
tlemen  come  up,  as  I  did  to-day,  and  refuse,  by  their  votes, 
to  aid  my  constituents,  refuse  to  place  the  actual  tiller  of 
the  soil,  the  honest,  industrious  laborer,  beyond  the  grasp 
and  avarice  of  the  speculator,  I  tell  you,  Sir,  I  falter,  and 
I  hesitate." 

A  Home&tead  bill  was  introduced  at  the  same  session, 
which  proposed  to  give  a  quarter-section  of  land  to  every 
actual  settler  continuing  to  occupy  it  for  five  years  from 
the  time  of  entry.  The  bill  passed  the  House,  February  1, 
1869,  120  to  76.  Of  the  Yeas,  82  were  Republicans,  38 
were  Democrats.  Of  the  Nays,  75  were  Democrats  and 
Southern  Americans  ;  and  1  Republican,  Nichols,  of  Ohio. 
Of  the  Democrats  who  voted  for  the  bill,  only  three  were 
from  Slave  States. 

In  the  Senate,  where  the  Democratic  majority  was  larger 
than  in  the  House,  no  direct  vote  was  permitted  to  be 
taken  upon  the  measure  ;  Southern  Senators  having  suc 
ceeded  in  obtaining  priority  to  other  bills,  one  of  which 
was  the  bill  for  the  purchase  of  Cuba,  of  the  passage  of 
which,  not  one  Senator,  probably,  had  the  least  expectation. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  question  was  one  between  Free 
Labor  and  Slave  Labor,  or  between  the  Republican  party 
and  the  Democratic  or  Slaveholders'  party.  This  will  still 
more  clearly  appear  from  subsequent  action  upon  the  subject. 


196  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

At  the  next  session,  on  the  6th  of  March,  Mr.  Lovejoy, 
from  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  reported  a  bill,  (pre 
viously  introduced  by  Mr.  Grow,)  offering  to  actual  settlers 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  which  was  subject  to 
preemption  at  $1  25  per  acre,  or  eighty  acres  at  $2  50  per 
acre,  on  terms  similar  to  those  of  the  bill  of  the  preceding 
session.  On  receiving  the  patent,  the  settler  was  to  pay 
$10,  which  sum  was  to  be  considered  as  a  compensation 
for  expense  of  survey,  &c. 

The  bill  was  read  twice  and  referred  to  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole.  On  the  12th  of  March,  a  motion  to  reconsider 
the  vote  by  which  the  bill  had  been  referred  to  that  Com 
mittee,  was  agreed  to,  106  to  67.  In  the  affirmative,  83 
Republicans,  23  Democrats — of  the  latter  were  5  Anti-Le- 
compton  Democrats,  as  they  were  called  from  their  opposi 
tion  to  the  efforts  of  the  administration  to  force  upon  the 
people  of  Kansas  the  Constitution  formed  at  Lecomptorr. 
In  the  negative,  52  Democrats,  and  15  Southern  Americans, 
who  generally  cooperated  with  the  Democrats. 

The  bill  being  now  before  the  House,  Mr.  Lovejoy  moved 
that  the  bill  be  engrossed  and  read  the  third  time.  Mr. 
Branch,  of  N.  C.,  moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table.  Lost,  <>2  to 
112  ;  the  Yeas  being  all  from  the  South,  except  Mr.  Mont 
gomery,  Democrat,  of  Pa.  ;  the  Nays  all  from  the  North, 
except  Mr.  Craig,  Democrat,  of  Missouri.  The  bill  was 
then  read  a  third  time  and  passed  :  Yeas,  115 — Republi 
cans,  86  ;  Democrats,  28  ;  North  American,  1.  Nays, 
Democrats,  47  ;  South  Americans,  18. 

In  the  Senate,  a  substitute  for  the  House  bill  was  re 
ported  by  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Tenn.,  granting  Homesteads  at 
25  cents  an  acre,  not  to  include  the  prctimptors  then  occu 
pying  public  lands.  Mr.  Wade  moved  to  substitute  the 
House  bill.  Lost,  26  to  31  :  Yeas,  all  Republicans,  except 
3,  Douglas,  Rice,  and  Toombs  ;  Nays,  all  Democrats.  On 
the  10th  of  May,  Johnson's  bill  was  passed,  44  to  8.  The 
House  refused  to  concur  ;  and  the  Senate  refused  to  recede. 
A  Committee  of  Conference  agreed  upon  the  Senate  bill 
with  slight  amendments  ;  one  of  which  restricted  its  bene 
fits  to  heads  of  families.  The  friends  of  the  measure 
being  unable  to  pass  such  a  bill  as  they  wished,  accepted 
this.  The  House  agreed  to  the  report  of  the  Commit- 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  197 

tee,  115  to  51  ;   the  Nays  all  from  the  Slave  States  :  the 
Senate,  36  to  2. 

The  bill  was  sent  to  the  President,  (Buchanan,)  who,  as 
if  determined  to  let  no  opportunity  pass  without  showing 
his  devotion  to  Southern  interests,  returned  the  bill  to  the 
Senate,  with  his  veto.  He  professed  to  see  in  it,  unconsti- 
tutionality,  inequality,  and  injustice  to  several  classes  of 
individuals  and  to  the  old  States,  and  a  reduction  of  the 
revenue.  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  passage  of 
the  bill  against  the  objections  of  the  President.  Yeas,  28  ; 
Republicans,  19  ;  Democrats,  9.  Nays,  18,  all  from  the 
South.  So  the  bill  failed  for  want  of  a  two-thirds 
majority. 

That  the  Democratic  party  was  then,  as  it  long  had  been,  in 
fact,  the  Pro-Slavery  party,  received  additional  confirmation 
at  this  session.  Senator  Davis,  (now  Southern  President,) 
submitted  a  series  of  resolutions  of  an  extreme  Southern 
character,  declaring  the  intermeddling,  by  any  State  or  its 
citizens,  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  other  States,  on 
any  pretext  whatever,  political,  moral,  or  religious,  to  be 
in  violation  of  the  Constitution,  insulting  to  the  States,  and 
tended  to  weaken  and  destroy  the  Union  ;  asserting  the 
right  of  slaveholders  to  take  their  "  peculiar"  property  into 
the  Territories  ;  denying  to  Congress  or  a  Territorial  Legis 
lature  the  power  either  by  direct,  or  by  indirect  and  "  un 
friendly"  legislation,  to  impair  or  to  annul  this  right ;  de 
claring  that  if  the  Judicial  and  Executive  authority  should 
not  possess  means  to  insure  adequate  protection  to  these 
constitutional  rights  in  a  Territory,  it  would  be  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  supply  such  deficiency  ;  that  a  State  should  be 
entitled  to  admission  with  or  without  Slavery  ;  and  that 
any  interference  with  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  was 
subversive  of  the  Constitution,  and  revolutionary. 

All  ^the  resolutions  except  one,  after  having  been 
thoroughly  debated  by  such  approved  Democrats  as  Daviq, 
Benjami-n,  and  other  Senators  of  the  "  fire-eating"  stamp, 
were  adopted  by  an  almost  strict  party  vote.  Even  the- 
first  and  second,  which  were  expressly  directed  against  all 
discussion  of  the  morality  or  political  expediency  of  Slavery, 
were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  36  to  18  or  20  !  Mr.  Harlan,  of 
Iowa,  Republican,  offered  an  amendment  to  the  second,  as 
follows  : 


198  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

"  But  the  free  discussion  of  the  morality  and  expediency 
of  Slavery  should  never  be  interfered  with  by  the  laws  of 
anv  State  or  of  the  United  States  ;  and  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press,  on  this  and  every  other  subject  of 
domestic  and  national  policy,  should  be  maintained  invio 
late  to  all  the  States." 

What  would  the  political  Fathers  have  thought,  if  such 
a  sentiment  had  been  voted  down  by  any  legislative  body 
in  their  day  ?  So  scrupulous  on  the  subject  of  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  were  some  of  the  ratifying  State 
Conventions,  that  they  were  indisposed  to  ratify,  without 
submitting  to  Congress,  among  other  propositions  for 
amendment,  a  guaranty  to  this  very  right  ;  and  so  proper 
was  it  regarded,  that  it  was  at  once  adopted  by  the  States 
as  a  part  of  the  Constitution.  Yet,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  year  1860,  a  resolution  substantially  de 
claring  the  exercise  of  this  right  unconstitutional,  and  a  violation 
of  the  most  solemn  obligations,  was  adopted  by  q  vote  of  two  to 
one;  the  majority  at  the  same  time  claiming  to  be  the  re 
presentatives  of  American  Democracy  I  Is  it  strange  that 
Northern  Democrats  should  now  manifest  such  opposition 
to  an  administration  which  is  employing  the  forces  of  the 
nation  to  put  down  a  rebellion  instigated  and  led  by  the 
authors  and  advocates  of  these  resolutions,  which  were  in 
tended  as  the  creed  of  the  Democratic  party  ?  The  general 
acquiescence  of  the  party  and  its  presses  in  these  resolu 
tions,  leaves  no  doubt,  that,  had  the  South  remained  in  the 
Union,  the  sentiments  of  these  resolutions  would  constitute 
the  party  Platform  in  1864,  as  they  probably  will,  even  if 
the  rebel  States  shall  not  have  returned. 

The  country  was  now  entering  upon  another  exciting 
Presidential  campaign.  The  principles  involved  in  the 
election  of  1860 — its  incidents — its  momentous  consequen 
ces — render  it  memorable  beyond  any  that  had  ever  occur 
red.  And  it  was  the  Kansas  question  which,  more  than 
any  other  cause,  contributed  to  give  it  this  distinction. 
The  honors  and  the  emoluments  of  the  Presidential  office 
had  for  many  years  been  dispensed  by  the  Slave  Power. 
It  had,  in  1852,  erected  the  Platforms  of  both  the  Democra 
tic  and  Whig  parties,  and  the  Democratic  Platform  in  1856, 
into  which  Mr.  Buchanan  assured  the  people  he  had  merged 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  199 

himself,  and  which,  as  the  event  showed,  served  the  purpose 
of  his  election.  This  platform  was  essentially  the  Cass  and 
Douglas  doctrine  of  Non-intervention,  or  Popular  Sovereignty. 
The  latest  improvement  in  Democracy  had  not  then  beon  an 
nounced  ;  or  the  time  had  not  come  when  it  was  deemed  safe 
to  present  it  for  acceptance  to  the  North.  Bat  having  been 
enunciated  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  public  mind  hav 
ing  partially  recovered  from  the  shock  which  its  announce 
ment  had  produced,  it  was  now  proclaimed  as  the  true  Demo 
cratic  doctrine. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Southern  Democracy  committed 
a  fatal  mistake  in  their  hasty  attempt  to  force  this  innovation 
into  the  Democratic  creed,  which  has  resulted,  not  only  in  the 
division  of  the  party,  and  the  disruption  of  the  Union,  but  in 
the  infliction  of  a  mortal  wound  upon  itself.  To  secure 
Southern  favor  was  the  principal  motive  that  prompted  the  re 
peal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act, 
the  claims  of  whose  author  had  not,  in  previous  Conventions, 
been  duly  appreciated,  and  who  intended  not  to  be  outdone  in 
obsequiousness  to  the  Southern  Oligarchy.  Bat  the  honors 
in  the  Presidential  game  having  been  awarded  to  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  Mr.  Douglas'  hope  must  necessarily  be  deferred  until 
1860.  But  unfortunately  his  favorite  doctrine  of  Popular 
Sovereignty  had  been  superseded,  and  a  cloud  had  somewhat 
obscured  his  prospects. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at  Charleston  on 
the  23d  of  April,  1860.  The  number  of  Delegates  was  303  ; 
and,  having  adopted  the  two-thirds  rule,  202  votes  were  neces 
sary  to  nominate.  But  the  Convention  decided  to  adopt  a 
Platform  before  proceeding  to  ballot  for  a  candidate.  Having 
endeavored  for  seven  days  in  vain  to  agree  upon  one,  and 
there  being  no  hope  of  such  a  result,  (the  Platform  reported 
by  the  Douglas  men  having  been  adopted,  165  to  138,)  whole 
delegations  of  some,  and  parts  of  the  delegations  of  others,  of 
the  States  of  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Texas,  Louisiana, 
Arkansas,  Delaware,  South  Carolina,  and  North  Carolina,  se 
ceded  from  the  Convention ;  met  in  another  place,  and  adopted 
a  series  of  resolutions  of  the  ultra  Southern  character;  and 
adjourned  to  meet  at  Richmond  the  llth  of  June. 

The  regular  Convention  proceeded  to  ballot,  202  votes  still 


200  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

being  declared  necessary  to  a  choice.  After  57  ballots  had 
been  taken,  in  which  Mr.  Douglas  had  received  on  each 
ballot  from  145  to  152  votes  against  about  100  for  all 
others,  the  Convention  adjourned  to  meet  at  Baltimore  on 
the  18th  of  June. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  assembled  at  Chi 
cago  the  16th  of  May.  The  contest  was  chiefly  between 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Lincoln.  On  the  3d 
ballot,  the  latter  received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes,  and 
was  declared  unanimously  nominated.  Hannibal  Hamlin, 
of  Maine,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President. 

The  Democratic  seceders  met  at  Richmond  on  the  llth 
of  June,  and  the  next  day  adjourned  to  the  21st.  They 
then  reassembled,  and  adjourned  from  day  to  day,  awaiting 
the  action  of  the  Convention  at  Baltimore,  which  had  met 
on  the  18th,  pursuant  to  adjournment.  The  week  was 
spent  by  the  latter  in  fruitless  endeavors  to  determine  the 
claims  of  delegates,  when  a  large  portion  of  them  again 
withdrew  from  the  Convention,  leaving  few  besides  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Douglas,  who  proceeded  to  ballot  fur  Presi 
dent,  and  gave  him  181|  votes  ;  J.  C.  Bnickinridge,  7£  ; 
Mr.  Guthrie,  5J. 

The  Beceders  subsequently  nominated  John  C.  Breckin- 
ridge,  of  Ky.,  for  President,  and  Joseph  Lane,  of  Oregon, 
for  Vice  President. 

A  fourth  nomination  was  made  by  a  Convention  claiming 
to  be  representatives  of  the  "  Constitutional  Union  Party/' 
who  met  at  Baltimore  the  9th  of  May,  from  twenty  States, 
and  nominated  John  Bell,  of  Tenn.,  for  President,  and 
Edward  Everett,  of  Mass.,  for  Vice-President.  This  Con 
vention  constructed  no  party  Platform,  other  than  to  de 
clare  that  "  platforms  adopted  by  partisan  Conventions 
have  the  effect  to  mislead  and  deceive  the  people,  and  to 
widen  the  political  divisions  of  the  country,  by  the  creation 
and  encouragement  of  geographical  and  sectional  parties," 
and  to  resolve,  "  That  it  is  both  the  part  of  patriotism  and  of 
duty  to  recognize  no  political  principle  other  than  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  country,  the  Union  of  the  Stales,  and  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  laws,  &fc. 

The  principles  of  the  other  parties  were  more  definitely 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  201 

expressed,  so  that,  however  discordant,  they  were  not  liable, 
without  doing  violence  to  language,  "  to  mislead  and  de 
ceive  the  people." 

The  Republican  Convention  reasserted  the  doctrines  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  regard  to  human  Rights, 
and  declared  no  principle  at  variance  with  any  previously 
affirmed.  The  lapse  of  time,  however,  required  the  intro 
duction  of  several  new  subjects.  The  "  new  dogma  that 
the  Constitution  of  its  own  force  carries  Slavery  into  the 
Territories  ;"  the  efforts  of  the  administration  to  keep  Kan 
sas  out  of  the  Union  with  a  Constitution  prohibiting 
Slavery  ;  and  sundry  other  measures  were  severely  con 
demned. 

The  Seceders'  or  Brecldnridge  Convention  affirmed  the 
Cincinnati  Platform  of  1856,  but,  with  such  explanations 
as  virtually  to  annul  it.  It  declared,  that  all  citizens  have 
an  equal  right  to  settle  in  the  Territories,  without  having 
their  rights  of  person  or  property  impaired  by  Congres 
sional  or  Territorial  legislation  ;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  protect  these  rights  ;  and  that  the 
right  of  Sovereignty  commences  when  the  people  of  a  Ter 
ritory,  having  an  adequate  population,  form  a  State  Con 
stitution.  What  does  this  leave  of  the  Popular  Sovereignty 
of  1856  ? 

It  was  the  boast  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  his  party,  that  they 
still  adhered  to  that  principle.  Let  their  Platform  adopted 
at  Baltimore  decide.  It  adopts,  as  did  the  other  Democra 
tic  Convention,  the  Platform,  of  1856,  adding  only  certain 
other  resolutions  ;  one  of  which  declares,  "  That  the  Demo 
cratic  party  will  abide,  by  the  decision  of  the,  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  over  the  institution  of  Slavery  within  the  Ter 
ritories."  Another,  "  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States 
to  afford  ample  and  complete  protection  to  all  its  citizens,  at 
home  or  abroad."  And  another,  "  That  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Cincinnati  Platform 
that,  during  the  existence  of  Territorial  Government,  the 
measure  of  restriction  imposed  by  the  Federal  Constitution 
on  the  powers  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  over  the  sub 
ject  of  domestic  relations,  as  the  same  has  been,  or  shall  here 
after  be,  finally  determined  by  the  Supreme  Court,  shall  be  re- 


202  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

spected  by  all  good  citizens,  and  enforced  with  promptness 
and  fidelity  by  every  branch  of  the  Federal  Government." 

Here  we  see  that  the  party  was  pledged  to  the  support  of 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case. 
That  decision  was,  that  "  every  citizen  has  a  right  to  take 
with  him  into  the  Territory  any  article  of  property 
which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  recognizes  as  pro 
perty.  The  Constitution  recognizes  slaves  as  property,  and 
pledges  the  Federal  Government  to  protect  it"  And  as  was 
asked  concerning  the  other  Platform,  so  we  ask  concerning 
this,  What  does  it  leave  of  Popular  Sovereignty  ? 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  Douglas  was  in  a  dilemma.  In  his  efforts 
to  open  the  way  for  the  spread  of  Slavery  by  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  he  had  aimed  at  Southern  support  for 
the  Presidency.  No  other  man  had  rendered  the  South 
greater  service.  During  the  Kansas  struggle,  prior  to  the 
perpetration  of  the  Lecompton  swindle,  he  had  sustained  the 
Ruffian  atrocities.  Not  a  word  of  condemnation  had  escaped 
his  lips.  He  then,  probably,  anticipated  no  repudiation  of  his 
cherished  non-intervention  principle.  When,  however,  the 
new  doctrine  was  announced  by  the  Supreme  Court,  he  was 
compelled  either  to  adopt  it,  or  abandon  all  hope  of  Southern 
favor.  He  chose  the  former.  He  publicly  declared  that  he 
accepted  the  Dred  Scott  dec'sion,  and  then  endeavored  tc  re 
concile  it  with  the  Popular  Sovereignty  of  1856.  He  from 
necessity  admitted  the  right  to  take  slaves  into  the  Terri 
tories,  and  that  the  owners,  if  protected  at  all,  must  be  pro 
tected  by  the  Territorial  Legislature.  These  might  either 
refuse  to  act  upon  the  subject,  or  might,  by  "unfriendly 
action,"  prohibit  Slavery.  This  could  be  done  by  refusing 
remedies  to  the  slaveholders,  or  by  imposing  heavy  taxes  upon, 
his  chattels.  But  an  appeal  might  be  mado  to  the  Supieme 
Court,  which  might  declare  these  laws  unconstitutional.  This, 
however,  is  unworthy  of  being  called  an  argument.  It  is  virtu 
ally  an  abandonment  of  his  original  ground.  Yet  in  his 
public  speeches  during  the  campaign  of  1860,  he  ignored  his 
own  party  platform,  at  least  in  certain  latitudes,  and  declared, 
as  in  his  speech  at  Concord,  N.  H.,  that  "  the  principle  he 
stood  upon  was  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  their  own 
laws,  and  to  establish  institutions  to  suit  themselves.''  It  is 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  203 

not  easy  to  reconcile  this  language  either  with  the   Platform 
or  with  common  honesty. 

Of  the  electors  chosen  in  November,  Mr.  Lincoln  received 
all  the  votes  of  all  the  Free  States,  except  New  Jersey,  in 
which,  in  consequence  of  a  fusion  of  the  opposition  parties,  a 
part  of  the  Lincoln  electors  was  chosen. 

For  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  :  California,  4  ;  Connecticut,  6  ; 
Illinois,  11 ;  Indiana,  13  ;  Iowa,  4  ;  Maine,  8  ;  Massachusetts, 
13;  Michigan,  6;  Minnesota,  4 ;  New  Hampshire,  5;  New 
Jersey,  4  ;  New  York,  35  ;  Oregon,  3  ;  Pennsylvania,  27  ; 
"Rhode  Island,  4  ;  Vermont,  5  ;  Wisconsin,  5;  Ohio,  23.— 180 

For  Breckinridge  and  Lane:  Alabama,  9  ;  Arkansas,  4; 
Delaware,  3;  Florida,  3;  Georgia,  10;  Louisiana,  6;  Mary 
land,  8;  Mississippi,  7;  ftorth  Carolina,  10;  South  Carolina, 
8  ;  Texas,  4— Total,  72. 

For  Bell  and  Everett :  Kentucky,  12  ;  Tennessee,  12 ; 
Virginia,  15.— Total,  39. 

For  Douglas  and  Johnson  :  New  Jersey,  3  ;  Missouri,  9. — 
Total,  12. 

Immediately  after  the  result  of  the  election  was  known, 
movements  began  to  be  made  at  the  South  to  carry  into  effect 
the  long  studied  purpose  of  the  Secessionists.  That  this  pur 
pose  was  not  first  formed  after  the  election,  there  is  abundant 
evidence.  In  the  first  place,  they  had  reason  to  believe,  and 
probably  did  believe,  that  the  strength  of  the  party,  concen 
trated  upon  a  single  candidate,  was  sufficient  to  elect  him. 
And  Mr.  Douglas,  having  a  decided  majority  of  the  Delegates 
in  the  Charleston  Convention,  was  entitled  to  the  nomination. 
His  services  in  the  cause  of  the  South  had  been  all  that  could 
have  been  reasonably  expected  from  the  most  loyal  South 
erner.  True,  he  had,  from  fear  of  endangering  his  prospects 
at  the  North,  spoken  somewhat  equivocally  on  the  subjects  of 
non-intervention  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision ;  but  having 
gone  so  far  as  to  declare  his  acceptance  of  that  decision,  the 
South  had  no  just  ground  to  suspect  his  loyalty  to  the  Slave 
Power.  The  secession  from  the  Charleston  Convention,  there 
fore,  furnishes,  of  itself,  reasonable  evidence  of  a  purpose  in 
directly  to  aid  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  was  to  be 
made  the  pretext  for  seceding. 

In  addition  to  this  evidence  of  premeditated  secession,  is 


204  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  fact  that  the  Republican  party  had  uniformly  disclaimed 
the  intention,  and  denied  to  the  General  Goveinment  the 
power,  to  interfere  with  Slavery  in  the  States;  and  some  of 
the  secession  members  of  Congress  had  the  frankness  to  admit, 
in  the  debates  at  the  succeeding  session  of  Congress,  that  they 
apprehended,  under  Mr.  Lincoln,  no  interference  with  their 
rights  in  this  respect.  Moreover,  it  had  been  ascertained  that 
there  would  be,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  Pro-Slavery  ma 
jorities  ;  which  fact,  in  connection  with  the  declared  opinion 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  placed  the  supremacy  of  the  Slave 
Power  beyond  all  question,  notwithstanding  the  election  of  a 
Republican  President. 

Much  clamor  was  made  in  Congress  about  what  were  called 
the  "  Personal  Liberty  Acts"  of  some  of  the  Northern  States, 
and  resistance  to  the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves.  This,  too, 
was  a  mere  pretense,  intended  to  deceive,  not  only  the  North, 
but  their  own  constituents,  a  majority  of  whom  were  opposed 
to  secession.  The  real  intention,  as  both  prior  and  subse 
quent  events  and  declarations  prove,  was  to  establish  a  great 
Slave  Empire,  which  was  ultimately  to  include  Mexico,  Cuba, 
and  several  of  the  South  American  States,  and  in  which  the 
Republican  principle  was  to  be  either  almost  or  altogether 
superseded  by  a  system  in  which  wealth  and  labor  should  be 
separated. 

But  we  have  positive  testimony  to  prove  the  designs  of  the 
South.  When,  in  1850,  it  was  proposed  to  convene  "a  South 
ern  Congress"  for  the  initiation  of  measures  looking  to  the  de 
fense  of  the  South,  a  debate  was  had  on  the  subject  in  the 
Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  from  which  some  extracts 
are  here  given.  In  reference  to  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon 
the  South — 

"  Mr.  Lyles  said  :  The  remedy  is  the  union  of  the  South, 
and  the  formation  of  a  Southern  Confederacy.  The  friends 
of  the  Southern  movement  in  the  other  States  look  to  the  ac 
tion  of  Soutli  Carolina  ;  and  he  would  make  the  issue  in  a 
reasonable  time,  and  the  only  way  to  do  it  is  by  secession. 
There  would  be  no  concert  among  the  Southern  States  until  a 
blow  is  struck. 

"  Mr.  Sullivan  .  .  .  denied  the  right  or  the  power  of 
the  General  Government  to  coerce  the  State  in  the  case  of 


205 

secession.  He  thought  there  never  would  be  a  union  of 
the  South  until  this  State  strikes  the  blow  and  makes  the 
issue. 

"  Mr.  Kichardson  said  there  was  no  remedy  for  these 
evils  in  the  Government ;  we  have  no  alternative  left  us 
but  to  come  out  cf  the  Government. 

"  Mr.  Preston  said  he  was  opposed  to  calling  a  Conven 
tion,  because  he  thought  it  would  impede  the  action  of  this 
State  on  the  question  before  the  country.  He  thought  it 
would  impede  our  progress  towards  disunion.  He  thought  Con 
ventions  dangerous  things,  except  when  the  necessities 
of  the  country  absolutely  demand  them.  He  said  he  had 
adopted  the  course  he  had  taken,  simply  and  entirely  with 
the  view  of  hastening  the  dissolution  of  this  Union.. 

11  Mr.  Keitt  said  he  would  sustain  the  bill  for  electing 
Delegates  to  a  Southern  Congress,  because  he  thought  it 
would  bring  about  a  more  speedy  dissolution  of  the  Union." 

In  1856,  leading  statesmen  and  editors  in  the  Southern 
States,  as  they  have  since  done,  avowed  their  determina 
tion,  in  case  of  the  election  of  an  Anti-Slavery  President,  to 
dissolve  the  Union.  Senator  Slidell,  of  Louisiana,  said,  "  if 
Fremont  should  be  elected,  the  Union  would  be  dissolved." 
Toombs,  of  Georgia,  said,  "  The  Union  would  be  dissolved, 
and  ought  to  be  dissolved." 

Senator  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  said  :  "  When  Fre 
mont  is  elected,  we  must  rely  upon  what  we  have — a  good 
State  Government.  Every  Governor  of  the  South  should 
call  the  Legislature  of  his  State  together,  and  have  mea 
sures  of  the  South  decided  upon.  If  they  did  not,  and  sub 
mit  to  the  degradation,  they  would  deserve  the  fate  of 
slaves.  I  should  advise  my  Legislature  to  go  at  the  tap  of 
the  drum." 

Mr.  Keitt,  of  S.  C.,  a  member  of  Congress,  said,  in  a 
speech  at  Lynchburg,  Va. :  "  If  Fremont  is  elected,  adher 
ence  to  the  Union  is  treason  to  liberty.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  tell 
you  now,  that  the  Southern  man  who  will  submit  to  his  election, 
is  a  traitor  and  a  coward."  (Enthusiastic  cheers.) 

Preston  S.  Brooks,  at  a  festival  made  by  his  constituents, 
and  intended  as  a  compliment  for  his  attempted  assassina 
tion  of  Senator  Sumner,  said  :  "  We  have  the  issue  upon 
us  now  ;  and  how  are  we  to  meet  it  ?  I  tell  you,  fellow 


206  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

citizens,  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  the  only  mode  which 
I  think  available  for  meeting  it,  is  just  to  tear  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  trample  it  under  foot,  and  form  a 
Southern  Confederacy,  every  State  ofwhic/i  icill  be  a  slaveholding 
Stale.  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.)  I  believe  it,  as  I 
stand  in  the  face  of  my  Maker  ;  I  believe  it,  on  my  respon 
sibility  to  you  as  your  honored  representative,  that  the  only 
hope  of  the  South  is  in  the  South,  and  that  the  only  available 
means  of  making  that  hope  effective,  is  to  cut  asunder  the 
bonds  that  tie  us  togetJier,  and  take  our  separate  position  among 
the  family  of  nations.  These  are  my  opinions.  They  have 
always  been  my  opinions.  I  have  been  a  disunionist  from  the 
time  I  could  think" 

"  If  I  was  a  commander  of  an  army,  I  would  never  post  a 
sentinel  who  would  not  swear  that  Slavery  is  right" 

11  If  Fremont  be  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  I 
am  for  the  people  in  their  majesty  rising  above  the  law  and 
leaders,  taking  the  power  into  their  own  hands,  going  by 
concert,  or  not  by  concert,  and  laying  the  strong  arm  of  South 
ern  freemen  upon  the  Treasury  and  arc/lives  of  the  Government" 
(Applause.) 

The  Charleston  Mercury,  the  chief  organ  of  South  Caro 
lina  Democrac3T,  said  :  "  Upon  the  policy  of  dividing  the  Union, 
of  separating  the  South  from  her  Northern  enemies,  and 
establishing  a  Southern  Confederacy,  parlies,  presses,  politi 
cians,  and  people,  are  a  unit.  There  is  not  a  single  public  man  in 
her  limits,  not  one  of  her  present  Senators  or  Representatives  in 
Congress,  who  is  not  pledged  to  the  lips  in  favor  of  disunion." 

Gov.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  in  1856,  said  :  "  To  tell  me  we 
should  submit  to  the  election  of  a  Black  Republican,  is  to 
tell  me  that  Virginia  and  the  fourteen  Slave  States  are 
already  subjugated  and  degraded,  (cheers  ;)  that  the 
Southern  people  are  without  spirit  and  without  purpose  to 
defend  the  rights  they  know  and  dare  not  maintain." 

Said  a  writer  from  Washington  in  a  New  Orleans  paper : 
"  It  is  already  arranged,  in  the  event  of  Fremont's  election, 
or  a  failure  to  elect  by  the  people,  to  call  the  Legislatures 
of  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  to  concert  mea 
sures  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  before  Fremont  can  get 
possession  of  the  army  and  navy  and  the  purse-strings  of 
the  Government.  Gov.  Wise  is  actively  at  work  already 


207 

in  the  matter  TJie  South  can  rely  on  the  President  in  the  emer 
gency  contemplated." 

Judge  Daily,  at  a  meeting  held  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
since  the  election  of  1856,  said  :  "During  the  Presidential 
contest,  Gov.  Wise  had  addressed  letters  to  all  the  South 
ern  Governors,  and  that  the  one  to  the  Governor  of  Florida 
had  been  shown  him,  in  which  Gov.  Wise  said  he  had  an  army 
in  readiness  to  prevent  Fremont  from  taking  his  seat  if  elected, 
and  asking  the  cooperation  of  those  to  whom  he  wrote." 

Charles  J.  Faulkner,  formerly  a  Congressman  from  Vir 
ginia,  and  Minister  to  France  under  Buchanan,  said  at  a 
public  meeting  in  Virginia  :  "  Should  William  H.  Seward 
be  elected  in  1860,  where  is  the  man  in  our  midst  who 
would  not  call  for  the  impeachment  of  a  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  who  would  silently  suffer  that  armory  (at  Harper's 
Ferry)  to  pass  under  the  control  of  such  an  Executive 
head  ?" 

The  Richmond  Enquirer,  an  acknowledged  exponent  of 
Southern  Democracy,  said  in  reference  to  the  assault  on 
Sumner  :  "  Sumner  and  Suinner's  friends  must  be  punished 
and  silenced.  Either  such  wretches  must  be  hung,  or  put- 
in  the  penitentiary,  or  the  South  should  prepare  at  once  to 
quit  the  Union. 

"  If  Fremont  is  elected,  the  Union  will  not  last  an  hour 
after  Mr.  Pierce's  term  expires.  ...  It  will  be  the 
duty  of  the  South  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  form  a  South 
ern  Confederacy. 

"  Let  the  South  present  a  compact  and  individual  front. 
Let  her,  if  possible,  detach  Pennsylvania,  Southern  Ohio, 
Southern  Indiana,  and  Southern  Illinois,  from  the  North, 
and  make  the  highlands  between  the  Ohio  and  the  lakes 
the  dividing  line.  Let  the  South  treat  with  California  ; 
and,  if  necessary,  ally  herself  with  Russia,  with  Cuba, 
and  Brazil." 

Senator  Iverson,  of  Georgia,  addressing  his  constituents 
before  his  departure  for  Washington,  in  1860,  said : 
"  Slavery  must  be  maintained — in  the  Union,  if  possible  ;  out  of 
it,  if  'necessary  :  peaceably,  if  we  may,  forcibly,  if  we  must. 

11  In  a  confederated  government  of  their  own,  the  South 
ern  States  would  enjoy  sources  of  wealth,  prosperity,  and 
power,  unsurpassed  by  any  nation  on  earth.  No  neutrality 


208  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

laws  would  restrain  our  adventurous  sons.  Our  expand 
ing  policy  would  stretch  far  beyond  present  limits.  Cen 
tral  America  would  join  her  destiny  to  ours,  and  so  would 
Cuba,  now  withheld  from  us  by  the  voice  and  votes  of 
Abolition  enemies." 

Jefferson  Davis,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Mississippi,  in  a 
speech  to  the  people  of  that  State,  in  1859,  said  :  "  For 
myself,  I  say,  as  I  said  on  a  former  occasion,  in  the  con 
tingency  of  the  election  of  a  President  on  the  platform  of 
Mr.  Seward's  Rochester  speech,  let  the  Union  be  dissolved. 
Let  the  great,  but  not  the  greatest  of  evils,  come." 

A  volume  of  similar  expressions  might  be  collected  from 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  Southern  men,  showing  their 
hatred  of  the  Union,  and  their  intention  of  quitting  it  when 
ever  the  Government  should  pass  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Pro-Slavery  Democratic  party.  And,  it  may  here  be 
asked,  From  what  prominent  Northern  Democrat  now 
in  good  standing  in  the  party,  has  such  language  ever 
met  with  deserved  rebuke  ?  Instead  ot'  this,  these  Dis- 
unionists  have  received  the  caresses  and  enjoyed  the  con 
fidence  of  their  Northern  friends  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Secession,  and  have  retained  their  sympathies  to  the  present 
day. 

In  the  debates  on  the  passage  of  the  ordinance  of  seces 
sion,  and  other  proceedings  of  the  Convention  of  South 
Carolina,  are  the  following  : 

"Mr.  Parker — It  is  no  spasmodic  effort  that  has  come 
suddenly  upon  us,  but  it  has  been  gradually  culminating 
for  along  series  of  years,  until  at  last  it  has  come  to  that 
point  when  we  may  say  the  matter  is  entirely  right. 

"  Mr.  Inglis — As  to  delay  for  the  purpose  of  a  discus 
sion,  I  for  one  am  opposed  to  it.  As  my  friend  Mr.  Parker 
has  yaid,  most  of  us  have  had  this  matter  under  considera 
tion  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  I  presume  we  have  by 
this  time  arrived  at  a  decision  upon  the  subject. 

"  Mr.  Keitt — Sir,  we  are  performing  a  great  act,  which 
involves  not  only  the  stirring  present,  but  embraces  the 
whole  great  future  of  ages  to  come.  I  have  been  engaged 
in  this  'movement  ever  since  I  entered  political  life.  We  have 
carried  the  body  of  this  Union  to  its  last  resting  place,  and 
now  we  will  drop  the  flag  over  its  grave.  After  that  is 


BUCHANANS   ADMINISTRATION.  200 

done,  I  am  ready  to  adjourn  and  leave  the  remaining  cere 
monies  for  to-morrow. 

"  Mr.  Rlictt — The  secession  of  South  Carolina  is  not  the 
event  of  a  day.  It,  is  not  anything  produced  by  Mr.  Lin- 
colti's  election,  or  by  non-execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 
It  has  been  a  matter  which  has  been,  gathering  head  for 
thirty  years.  .  .  In  regard  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  law, 
I  myself  donbt  its  constitutionality,  and  I  doubted  it  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  when  I  was  a  member  of  that  body. 
The  States,  acting  in  their  sovereign  capacit.y,  should  bo 
responsible  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves.  That  was 
our  best  security." 

From  these  and  other  evidences  of  the  determination  of 
the  more  Southern  Slave  States  to  secede,  how  unnecessary 
were  all  attempts,  by  compromise  and  concession,  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  secession  !  Coercion  was  the  only  preven 
tive  ;  and  had  President  Buchanan  had  the  honesty  and 
the  moral  courage  to  take  the  necessary  measures  to  re- 
enforce  the  forts  near  Charleston,  and  enforced  the  collec 
tion  of  revenue  in  the  Southern  ports,  the  Rebellion  with  its 
tremendous  consequences  might  have  been  prevented.  Ho 
was  importuned  by  his  friends  to  act  in  the  matter  ;  but, 
either  from  sympathy  with  the  seceders,  or  from  timidity, 
he  persisted  in  leaving  them  to  carry  their  designs  intoeffect. 
Such  a  responsibility  no  other  public  functionary  in  this 
country  ever  incurred.  The  decision  of  the  President  not 
to  send  additional  troops  to  strengthen  the  Charleston  forts 
on  the  urgent  call  of  Major  Anderson,  then  in  command  of 
Fort  Moultrie,  induced  Gen.  Cass,  Secretary  of  State,  to 
resign  ;  he  having  contended,  it  is  said,  that  such  reSn- 
forcement  was  necessary  to  insure  peace,  arid  to  protect 
the  public  property,  which  was  the  duty  of  the  Govern 
ment. 

Gen.  Scott,  as  early  as  October  29,  1860,  wrote  to  tho 
President  :  "  It  is  my  solemn  conviction  that  there  is  somo 
danger  of  an  early  act  of  rashness  preliminary  to  secession, 
viz.,  the  seizure  of  some  of  the  following  forts  :"  naming- 
some  eight  or  ten,  including  Moultrie  and  Sutnter,  most  of 
them  without  garrisons  or  with  insufficient  ones,  and  re 
commended  their  being  guarded  "  against  surprises."  Ho 
said  also  :  "  With  the  army  faithful  to  its  allegiance,  and 


210  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

the  navy  probably  equally  so,  and  with  a  Federal  Execu 
tive,  for  the  next  twelve  months,  of  firmness  and  modera 
tion,  which  the  country  has  a  right  to  expect — moderation 
being1  an  element  of  power  not  less  th an  firmness-* there  is 
good  reason  to  hope  that  the  danger  of  secession  may  be 
made  to  pass  away  without  one  conflict  of  arms,  one  exe 
cution,  or  one  arrest  for  treason."  But  the  President  con 
tinued  inactive  ;  his  Secretaries  plundering  the  Treasury, 
plotting  treason,  placing  the  national  arms  at  the  disposal 
of  the  traitors,  and  scattering  the  navy  ;  and  the  Govern 
ment  was  betrayed,  powerless,  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies. 

One  act  of  service  to  the  slaveholders  remained  to  Mr. 
Buchanan.  Having  another  Annual  Message  to  prepare, 
he  took  occasion  to  give  the  "Northern  agitators"  one 
more  thrust  before  his  retirement.  It  was  in  iris  view  a 
serious  offense,  that,  for  five  and  twenty  years,  they  had 
presumed  to  express  their  dislike  of  Slavery,  without  the 
fear  of  Southern  lordlings  before  their  eyes.  The  old  pa 
triots  and  statesmen  spoke  of  Slavery  as  a  moral  and  politi 
cal  evil — a  "  curse" — and  of  slaveholders  as  "  despots  " — 
terms  quite  as  severe  as  are  used  by  the  Phillipses  and 
Garrisons  of  the  present  day.  Now,  a  man  can  not,  with 
out  incurring  the  strongest  censure  of  the  Democrats,  so 
much  as  say  to  a  slaveholder,  "  Why  do  you  thus  ?" 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  "  the  Slavery  question  could  be  easily 
settled,  and  peace  and  harmony  restored.  All  for  which 
the  Slave  States  have  ever  contended,  is  to  be  let  alone." 
True,  Mr,  President..  Had  the  slaveholders  been  permitted 
to  do  just  as  they  pleased — to  spread  the  curse  of  Slavery 
over  an  empire,  to  be  divided,  as  fast  as  might  be  neces 
sary  to  keep  up  the  desired  "  equilibrium,"  and  formed  into 
States  inhabited  mainly  by  an  unpaid,  ignorant,  mixed,  and 
degraded  population,  dwelling  in  rude  and  filthy  cabins, 
instead  of  being  peopled  by  industrious  free  laborers,  whoso 
thrift,  intelligence,  and  high  social  position,  are  evinced  by 
the  convenient  dwellings,  by  churches,  and  school-houses, 
and  manufactories  which  overspread  the  country  ;  could 
these  petty  "  despots,"  as  Jefferson  called  them,  have  con 
tinued  to  lord  it  over  their  fellow  men,  and  to  riot  upon 
their  unrequited  labor,  without  extracting  from  the  friends 
of  humanity  an  expression  of  sympathy  fur  their  suffering 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  211 

brethren,  or  an  effort  for  their  relief  ;  and  could  they  have 
extorted  from  the  people  one  more  concession — a  constitu 
tional  guaranty  of  the  right  to  govern,  ly  the  lash  and  the  chain, 
all  the  territory  now  owned,  and  hereafter  to  be  acquired,  ly  the 
United  States,  and  enactments  prohibiting  the  discussion  of 
the  morality  of  the  "  peculiar  institution, 3>  and  the  trans 
mission,  by  mail,  of  all  obnoxious  papers,  as  Mr.  Buchanan 
and  his  Democratic  associates  in  Congress  attempted  to  do 
in  ISSfi  ;  in  short,  could  only  the  people  of  the  North  have 
been  compelled  to  let  the  slaveholders  alone; — then,  indeed, 
"  peace  and  harmony"  might  have  been  preserved.  Such 
guaranties  would  doubtless,  even  now,  appease  the  traitors, 
and  bring  back  every  Rebel  State  into  the  Union.  And 
could  Mr.  Buchanan  be  invested  with  plenary  power  to  set 
tle  this  question,  "  peace  and  harmony"  would  be  speedily 
"  restored." 

The  President  denied  the  constitutional  right  of  Seces 
sion  ;  but  he  told  the  country  he  had  no  authority  to  en 
force  the  obedience  of  a  State  ;  and  so  he  let  the  traitors 
alone,  and,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  importunities  of  loyal 
Democrats,  refused  to  rceriforce  the  forts  which  were  too 
feebly  garrisoned  for  effectual  resistance  or  protection,  or 
to  make  any  other  provision  ibr  the  execution  of  the  laws. 
What  could  have  been  more  encouraging  to  the  Rebels? 

The  message  also  directs  a  missile  at  "geographical" 
or  "  sectional  parties,"  intended,  of  course,  for  the  party 
which  had  elected  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  general  hue  and  cry 
about  "  sectionalism,"  kept  up  for  years  to  the  eve  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  the  repetition  of  the  denunciation  of  "  sec 
tional  parties"  by  the  President,  indorsed  by  the  party 
throughout  the  North,  tended  to  confirm  the  hope  of  the 
traitors  that  any  efforts  of  the  new  administration  to  en 
force  the  laws  against  them  would  be  resisted  by  their 
Northern  friends. 

The  reader  will  pardon  a  digression  here  to  notice  this 
accusation  of  "  sectionalism."  Why  is  a  party  formed  to 
oppose  the  extension  of  Slavery  more  sectional  than  one 
whose  object  is  to  promote  its  extension  ?  Slavery  is  a  sec 
tional  institution.  Freedom  is  national:  to  secure  its  bless 
ings  to  THE  WHOLE  NATION  is  the  object  of  the  Constitution. 
A  party,  therefore,  organized  to  effect  this  object,  is  not, 


213  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  a  sectional  party.  Is  not 
rather  a  party  whose  business  it  is  to  support  a  sectional  in 
terest,  a  sectional  party?  As,  however,  it  is  the  grand 
object  of  the  Democratic  party  to  naticnolize  Slavery,  I  am 
not  d'sposed  to  dispute  its  claim  to  nationality.  But  ad 
mitting-  that  a  party  opposed  to  Slavery,  because  its  voters 
are  limited  to  one-half  of  the  States,  is  really  sectional  :  Is 
that  fact  a  valid  objection  to  such  a  party  ?  Its  claims  to 
siippf/rt  are  to  le  determined  by  the  nature  of  its  objects;  and  it 
is  immaterial  whether  all  its  members  reside  in  one  State, 
or  are  scattered  through  all  the  States.  Every  measure  of 
political  or  moral  reform  has  a  local  beginning1.  It  is  dis 
cussed  ;  the  sentiments  of  its  advocates  arc  proclaimed  ; 
the  judgment  of  men  is  every  where  addressed  through  the 
public  Press  and  otherwise.  The  friends  of  the  measure 
depend  upon  its  merits  to  commend  it  to  the  public  sup 
port  ;  and  by  free  discussion  and  the  dissemination  of  cor 
rect  information,  it  soon  finds  sup1,  orters  in  every  commu 
nity.  But  tl'e  slaveholders  dread  discussion,  and  deny 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  Press.  Restore  this  consti 
tutional  right ;  admit  light  into  the  benighted*  South  ;  and 
a  Btronger  Anti-Slavery  party  would  soon  be  found  there 
than  there  has  ever  been  or  now  is  in  the  North  ;  and  the 
cry  of  "  sectionalism"  would  be  silenced. 

The  sentiment  that,  because  Slavery  is  confined  to  a  por 
tion  of  the  Union,  it  does  not  concern  the  people  in  other 
portions,  has  no  foundation  either  in  morals  or  in  logic.  It 
is  in  perfect  accordance  with  that  of  Cain  :  <;  Am  I  my  bro 
ther's  keeper  ?"  or  with  that  of  a  man  who  should  refuse  to 
rescue  a  fellow  man  from  the  hands  of  a  robber.  The  law 
of  humanity — the  law  of  nature,  which  is  the  law  of  God — 
demands  interference,  by  all  moral  and  lawful  means,  iu  be 
half  of  the  oppressed  and  the  suffering. 

But  another  reason — political  expediency — justifies  opposi 
tion  to  Slavery  by  the  people  of  the  Free  States.  The  evils 
of  Slaver}'  are  not  altogether  local  ;  it  affects  the  whole  nation. 
That  it  paralyzes  the  industry  and  retards  the  prosperity  of 
a  State,  has  been1  a  thousand  times  confessed  by  slavehold 
ers  themselves,  and  may  bo  seen  on  the  slightest  compari 
son  between  the  Free  and  the  Slave  States.  Slavery  closes 
the  doors  against  the  free  laborers  of  other  States.  It 


213 

creates  an  antagonistic  sectional  interest  ;  gives  to  slavehold 
ers  a  disproportionate  influence  in  the  Government  ;  and, 
as  the  event  shows,  endangers  the  Union. 

To  this  it  will  be  replied,  that  the  holding  of  slaves  id  a 
constitutional  right.  True  ;  and  being  such,  it  is  not  to  be 
infringed.  But  all  due  respect  for  this  right  does  not  for-, 
bid  the  use  of  all  legal  and  constitutional  means  to  remove 
or  abate  the  evil.  The  necessity  which  compelled  acquies 
cence  in  the  reservation  of  this  right,  does  not  make  Slavery 
just  or  expedient  ;  nor  does  it  rightfully  preclude  attempts 
by  any  man  or  party  to  effect  its  restriction  or  abolition. 

Slavery  also  affects  the  honor  of  the  nation  :  it  is  a  na 
tional  disgrace,  for  which  the  North  as  well  as  the  South  13 
responsible.  But  for  the  countenance  and  support  which 
Slavery  has  received  from  the  people  of  the  Free  States,  it 
would  long  since  have  been  on  a  rapid  decline,  if  not  on 
the  point  of  extinction.  The  Rebellion  and  its  awful  con 
sequences  would  have  been  avoided  ;  and  we  should  need 
no  advice  from  Mr.  Buchanan  or  any  other  Northern  abet 
tor  of  treason  as  to  the  means  of  restoring  "  peace  and  har 
mony  to  a  distracted  country."  Its  peace  and  harmony 
would  never  have  been  disturbed.  Could  a  tithe  of  all  that 
has  been  said  and  done  by  Northern  "  doughface  "  politi 
cians  be  at  once  presented  to  the  minds  of  candid  men,  they 
would  not  wonder  that  the  nation  has  been  brought  into 
its  present  perilous  condition.  What,  for  example,  can  be 
imagined  to  be  more  likely  to  produce  such  a  result  than 
the  sentiments  expressed  by  Ex- President  Fillrnore  in  his 
highly  applauded  speech  at  Albany,  in  185G  ?  Forgetting- 
all  his  anti-slavery  acts  and  speeches,  he  said  : 

"  We  see  a  political  party  presenting  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency,  selected  for  the  first  time 
from  the  Free  States  alone.  .  .  .  Can  it  be  possible 
that  those  who  are  engaged  in  such  a  measure  can  have 
seriously  reflected  upon  the  consequences  which  must  inevitably 
foltoyi,  in  case  of  success  ?  Can  they  have  the  madness  or  the 
folly  to  leliere  that  our  Southern  brethren  would  submit  to  le 
governed  by  such  a  Chief  Magistrate  ?" 

If  such  language  is  not  treasonable,  it  is  very  nearly  so, 
Did  the  speaker  mean  to  intimate  that  Gen.  Fremont,  or 
Mr.  Dayton,  Mr.  Fiilmore's  old  Whig  brother,  had  they  been 


214  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

elected,  would  have  violated  their  official  oaths  by  infring 
ing  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South  ?  The  legitimate 
inference  from  his  language  is,  that  "  our  Southern  bre 
thren"  would  have  just  cause  for  refusing  to  submit  to  the  laws 
cf  the  Union.  No  wonder  if,  after  the  utterance  of  such 
sentiments  by  a  thousand  presses  and  ten  thousand  tongues 
in  the  Free  States  for  more  than  twenty  years,  the  slave 
holders  had,  in  the  supposed  contingency,  refused,  or  that, 
four  years  later,  they  did  refuse,  to  "  submit  to  be  govern 
ed  by  such  a  Chief  Magistrate  ?"  Who  believes  that  "  our 
Southern  brethren,"  if  they  had  been  plainly  told  from  the 
beginning,  that  all  demands  for  anything  more  than  to  be 
"  let  alone"  within  their  States  would  be  denied,  would  ever 
have  rebelled  against  their  Government  ?  But  they  were 
spoiled  by  the  "  sugar  plum"  policy.  What  they  could  not 
readily  obtain  by  teazing,  'they  extorted  by  threats  of  run 
ning  away.  And  the  time  having  come  when  no  further 
concessions  were  expected,  they  turned,  and  kicked  the 
hand  by  which  they  had  been  fed  to  surfeiting.  And  now, 
both  the  North  arid  the  South,  the  latter  as  principal,  the 
former  as  accessory,  are,  fur  the  giant  sin  of  oppression, 
writhing  under  the  inflictions  of  a  righteous  Providence, 
who  has  declared  concerning  the  wicked,  "  Though  hand 
join  in  hand,  he  shall  not  go  unpunished." 

South  Carolina  seceded  the  latter  part  of  December,  and 
immediately  took  measures  to  obtain  possession  of  the  na 
tional  forts  within  the  State.  Major  Anderson,  commander 
of  the  forts  in  the  Charleston  harbor,  aware  that  Fort  Moul- 
trie,  in  which  tho  garrison  then  was,  was  unable  to  resist 
the  land  forces,  quietly  withdrew  on  the  night  of  the  28th 
of  December,  and  took  possession  of  Fort  Sumter.  Other 
States  followed  the  example  of  South  Carolina,  not  only  in 
the  act  of  secession,  but  in  robbing  the  Government,  taking 
possession  of  United  States'  forts,  arsenals,  and  other  pro 
perty  within  their  borders.  Louisiana  seized  the  United 
States  Mint  and  the  Sub-Treasury  at  New  Orleans  with 
half  a  million  of  dollars.  The  traitor  Secretaries,  Cobb,  of 
the  Treasury  ;  Floyd,  of  War,  and  Thompson,  of  the  In 
terior,  resigned  their  offices  ;  and  Senators  and  Represen 
tatives  gradually  withdrew  from  Congress  ;  though  some 
of  them  remained  for  a  time  after  the  purpose  of  their  States 


215 

was  known,  in  order,  probably,  to  influence  the  public  mind 
in  their  favor,  or  to  alarm  the  Government  into  submis 
sion. 

The  President  appointed  John  A.  Dix,  of  New  York,  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  and  Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  Sec 
retary  of  War.  These  proved  to  be  faithful  and  efficient 
officers,  who  checked,  in  some  measure,  the  downward 
course  of  the  Government. 

One  of  the  most  atrocious  acts  of  treachery  was  perpe 
trated  by  Gen.  Twiggs,  commander  of  the  United  States 
forces  for  the  department  of  Texas,  who  surrendered  tho 
military  posts  and  other  property  under  his  charge  to  tho 
State  authorities. 

Several  propositions  were  offered  in  Congress  in  the  hope 
of  pacifying  the  South,  or  at  least  of  preventing  the  seces 
sion  of  the  border  Slave  States.  The  most  prominent  one 
was  that  of  Mr.  Crittcnden,  of  Kentucky,  a  Union  man,  who 
had  been  elected  by  the  American  party.  He  proposed  the 
restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  an  amendment 
of  the  Constitution,  guarantying  Slavery  South  of  the  es 
tablished  line,  not  only  in  the  territory  now  belonging  to 
the  Union,  but  in  all  that  might  hereafter  be  acquired.  This 
proposition  was  introduced  before  many  States  had  seceded, 
and  while  the  Southern  representation  was  nearly  full. 
Before  the  purpose  of  secession  had  been  fully  formed,  so 
liberal  a  concession  would,  it  is  presumed,  have  been 
promptly  accepted  by  the  South.  But  it  was  highly  objec 
tionable  to  the  North.  The  requests  of  the  slaveholders 
had  from  an  early  period  been  granted  by  the  generous 
North.  Having  by  indulgence  grown  exacting,  and  de 
manding  what  once  they  would  hardly  have  presumed  to 
ask  as  a  favor,  these  demands  also,  sometimes  enforced  by 
threats  of  disunion,  were  conceded  by  the  pliant  North. 
The  South  having  at  length  broken  her  faith  by  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  destroyed  the  confidence 
of  the  North  in  her  pledges,  any  further  concession,  espe 
cially  one  of  such  magnitude  as  that  now  asked,  and  that, 
too,  under  threats  of  breaking  up  the  Union,  would  have 
been  dishonorable  and  humiliating  in  the  extreme.  It 
would  also  tend  to  encourage  the  resistance,  in  future,  oi 
factious  minorities  to  the  will  of  majorities,  however  fairly 
and  clearly  that  will  may  have  been  expressed. 


216  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

The  concession  asked  was  moreover  unreasonable. 
Slavery  was  aggressive,  and  never  satisfied.  Its  life  de 
pends  upon  extension.  In  time,  its  allotted  territory  would 
be  too  small  ;  and  some  pretext  would  again  be  conceived 
for  another  invasion  of  Mexico,  or  of  some  other  neighbor 
ing1  State,  with  a  view  to  further  acquisitions  of  territory 
for  the  extension  of  the  Slave  Dominion.  And  what  ren 
dered  the  proposition  peculiarly  objectionable  was,  that  the 
contemplated  concession  being  secured  by  a  constitutional 
provision,  however  ir.juriously  it  might  affect  the  North,  re 
lief  would  be  impossible.  Slavery  is  inexorable  ;  and  the 
redress  of  any  grievance  dependent  upon  a  constitutional 
amendment  requiring  the  ratification  of  three-fourths  of  the 
States,  would  be  hopeless.  These  reasons,  (more  might  be 
given,)  arc  sufficient  to  justify  the  North  in  rejecting  the 
proposition  of  Mr.  Critteuden.  It  would  have  been  an 
entire  surrender  to  Slave  Power  for  all  lime,  with  no  probable 
benefit  to  the  Union. 

Fixed  in  the  purpose  of  a  separation  from  the  North, 
State  after  State  seceded  ;  and  before  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  a  Southern  Confcderacj'  was  formed,  and  a 
provisional  Government  established  at  Montgomery,  Ala 
bama. 

One  important  fact  connected  with  this  rebellion — and 
one  which  inspires  the  hope  of  a  more  ready  return  of  the 
seceded  States  to  the  Union  than  many  are  looking  for — is, 
that  Secession  has  never  been  sanctioned  by  the  people  of 
those  States.  The  question  has  never  been  fairly  submitted 
to  them.  It  is  believed  that,  if  a  deliberate  and  unbiased 
expression  of  the  will  of  the  people  had  be^n  given,  large 
majorities  in  all  but  two  or  three  of  the  seceding  States 
would  have  voted  against  Secession.  And  hence  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe,  that,  when  the  authority  of  the 
General  Government  shall  have  been  so  far  established  in 
any  of  those  States  as  to  insure  protection  to  its  inhabi 
tants,  the  majority  of  them  will  cheerfully  return  to  their 
allegiance. 

Great  anxiety  was  felt  in  regard  to  the  probable  course 
of  the  border  Slave  States,  especially  Virginia,  as  her  ac 
tion  would  be  likely  to  influence  that  of  other  States.  In 
the  latter  po,rt  of  January,  the  Legislature  of  this  State 


BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  217 

adopted  resolutions  proposing  a  meeting"  of  Commissioners 
from  all  such  States  as  were  willing1  to  unite  with  Virginia 
in  an  effort  to  adjust  the  existing  controversy,  so  as  to 
afford  to  the  people  of  the  slavcholding  States  adequate 
security  to  their  rights.  These  resolutions  were  sent  by 
Ex-President  Tyler  to  the  President,  by  whom  they  were 
communicated  to  Congress. 

In  pursuance  of  this  invitation,  a  "  Peace  Convention" 
met  at  Washington  on  the  4th  of  February,  18C1,  and  ad 
journed  on  the  27th.  Twenty-one  States  were  represented  : 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  lihode 
Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky, 
Tenncss-ee,  Missouri,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Iowa,  and  Kan 
sas.  The  Convention  adopted  a  series  of  propositions  to 
constitute  Article  13  of  Amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
with  seven  sections.  (1.)  Slavery  was  prohibited  North  of 
the  parallel  of  3(5  deg.  30  min.,  and  secured  South  of  that 
line.  (2.)  No  future  acquisitions  of  territory,  except  by  dis' 
covery  and  for  national  uses,  without  the  concurrence  of  a 
majority  of  all  the  Senators  from  the  slavcholdirig  States, 
and  a  majority  of  all  the  Senators  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States,  and  in  case  of  acquisition  by  treaty,  two-thirds  of 
each  class  of  States  must  concur.  (3.)  Congress  was  to 
have  no  power  to  contiol  Slavery  in  any  State  or  Territory, 
nor  to  interfere  with  or  abolish  it  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  without  the  consent  of  Maryland  and  the  owners  of 
slaves,  nor  without  compensation  to  their  owners.  Sundry 
other  pi\vi'cg;?s  were  guarantied  to  slave  owners  in  this 
Section.  (4.)  Stales  were  to  have  the  right  to  pass  laws 
for  enforcing  the  delivery  of  fugitive  slaves  to  legal  claim 
ants.  (5.)  The  foreign  slave  trade  was  prohibited.  ((>.) 
The  provisions  in  the  Constitution  relating  to  Slavery,  and 
the  fir^t,  third,  fiiih,  and  sixth  sections  of  these  Amendments, 
were  not  to  be  altered  or  abolished  without  the  consent  of 
all  the  States.  (7.)  Congress  was  required  to  provide  by 
law  that  the  United  States  should  pay  the  owner  of  a  fugi 
tive  slave  the  full  value  of  the  slave,  if  rescued  by  violence 
or  intimidation  from  mobs,  &c.  ;  arid  Congress  was  requir 
ed  to  pass  a  law  for  securing  to  the  citizens  of  each  State 
the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several 
States. 


218  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention  was 
communicated  to  Congress  on  the  27th  of  February  ;  but 
Congress  failing  to  submit  the  proposed  amendment  to  the 
States  for  ratification,  the  Convention,  as  was  expected, 
proved  a  failure.  This,  however,  was  little  to  be  regretted. 
Virginia  had,  through  her  leading-  citizens,  declared  her  de 
termination,  if  force  were  employed  against  the  rebel  States, 
to  join  the  Confederacy  ;  and  as  these  were  determined  on  a 
separation  at  oil  events  ;  and  as  coercive  measures  could 
not  have  been  deferred  until  the  States  could  have  acted 
upon  the  proposed  amendments,  neither  Virginia  nor  any 
other  of  the  subsequently  seceding  States  would  have  been 
retained.  Nor  was  it  at  all  probable  that  the  propositions 
of  the  Convention  would  have  been  ratified  by  three-fourths 
of  the  adhering  States. 

A  few  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  "  Peace  Conven 
tion,"  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration  expired.  President 
Buchanan  came  into  office  at  a  time  and  under  circumstances 
which  enabled  him,  with  ordinary  prudence  and  honesty  of 
purpose,  to  make  his  administration  a  popular  one.  But  it 
gained  notoriety  by  its  imbecility  and  corruption,  and  the 
incalculable  amount  of  mischief  which  it  wrought.  A  more 
faithful  servant  the  Slave  Power  never  had  in  that  office. 
One  good,  however,  has  been  ascribed  to  him,  for  which 
he  is  especially  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  his  immediate 
predecessor  :  lie  made  the  unpopular  administration  of 
Franklin  Pierce  appear  respectable  !  Probably  no  man 
ever  carried  from  the  Presidential  chair  into  retirement  so 
little  public  respect  and  such  a  weight  of  popular  odium, 
as  James  Buchanan.  Well  had  it  been  for  his  own  honor 
as  well  as  for  the  honor  and  good  of  his  country,  if  he  had 
retired  to  private  life  before  his  election  to  the  Presidency. 


LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  219 


CHAPTER    X. 

Administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address  gave  great  satisfaction. 
He  assured  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  that  <;  their 
property,  their  peace  and  personal  security  would  not  be 
endangered  ;"  that  he  had  "  no  purpose  to  interfere  with  the 
institution  of  Slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists  f  and 
declared  that  he  had  no  right  nor  inclination  to  do  so.  He 
acknowledged  the  binding  force  of  the  constitutional  pro 
vision  for  reclaiming  fugitive  slaves.  A  law  designed  to 
carry  this  provision  into  effect,  ought  to  guard  effectually 
against  the  surrender  of  free  men  as  slaves  ;  and  he  sug 
gested  that  it  would,  at  the  same  time,  be  well  to  provide 
by  law  to  enforce  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  which 
guaranties,  that  "  the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  en 
titled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  States." 

The  Constitution,  he  said,  "contemplates  the  Union  to 
be  perpetual  ;"  "  no  State,  upon  its  own  mere  motion,  can 
lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  ;"  and  "  acts  of  violence  with 
in  any  State  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States  are 
insurrectionary  or  revolutionary."  He  considered  that, 
"  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  Union  was 
unbroken,  and  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  he  should  take 
care  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  were  faithfully  executed  in 
all  the  States."  The  mails,  unless  repelled,  would  continue 
to  be  furnished  in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

In  respect  to  "  the  position  assumed  by  some,  that  consti 
tutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court," 
he  said  he  did  "  not  deny  that  such  decision  must  be  bind- 


220  .      DEMOCRATIC    1IIRROR. 

ing  in  any  case  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit,  as  to  the  object 
of  that  suit,  while  it  is  also  entitled  to  very  high  respect 
and  consideration  in  all  parallel  cases  by  all  other  depart 
ments  of  the  Government." 

Mr.  Lincoln  appointed,  as  members  of  his  Cabinet,  Wil 
liam  II.  Seward,  of  New  York,  Secretary  of  State  ;  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  Simon  Came 
ron,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  War  ;  Gideon  Welles,  of 
Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ;  Caleb  B.  Smith,  of  In 
diana,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ;  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri, 
Attorney-General  ;  and-  Montgomery  Blair,  of  Maryland, 
Postmaster-General. 

Although  the  President  had  declared  his  intention  to  see 
the  laws  faithfully  executed,  he  deferred  the  employment  of 
force  until  an  overt  act  of  war  had  been  committed  by  the 
State  of  South  Carolina.  On  the  12th  of  April,  the  assault 
upon  Fort  Sumter  was  made.  Long  before  this,  however, 
an  act  of  war  had  been  committed,  by  firing  into  the  Star 
of  the  West,  which  had  been  sent  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter, 
but  was  compelled  to  return  without  accomplishing  the 
purpose  for  which  she  had  been  sent.  On  the  15th  of  April, 
President  Lincoln  issued  his  Proclamation,  declaring  that 
the  laws  were  opposed  and  their  execution  obstructed,  in 
the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  and  calling  for  75,000 
troops  "  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed,"  and  "  to 
repossess  the  forts,  places,  and  property  which  had  been 
seized  from  the  Union."  And  before  midsummer,  the  na 
tion  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  and 
desolating  civil  wars  recorded  in  history.  The  Proclama 
tion  also  summoned  Congress  to  meet  on  the  4th  of  July. 

The  call  for  troops  was  promptly  responded  to  in  all  the 
Northern  States  ;  and  money  was  liberally  pledged  for  the 
volunteers  and  their  families.  Legislatures  also  made  ap 
propriations  in  aid  of  the  General  Government,  The  call 
on  the  Slave  States  still  in  the  Union  met  with  a  very  dif 
ferent  response  The  Governors  of  all  these  States,  except 
Delaware  and  Maryland,  positively  refused  to  obey  the  re 
quisition.  Some  were  unwilling  to  aid  the  Government  in 
subduing  their  sister  States  ;  others  doubted  the  constitu- 


LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  221 

tionality  of  the  call.  Gov.  Hick?,  of  Maryland,  would  raiso 
troops  only  for  the  defense  of  Washington.  Delaware 
promptly  took  her  stand  with  the  loyal  States. 

The  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  was  soon  followed 
by  a  similar  one  on  the  part  of  President  Davis,  calling  on 
the  Southern  States  for  volunteers.  The  latter  also  offered 
liberal  inducements  for  persons  to  take  out  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal  as  privateers. 

Virginia  had  long  been  in  a  state,  of  indecision.  Intima 
tion  had  been  given  that,  if  the  Government  should  employ 
force  against  the  rebel  States,  she  would  join  the  Confeder 
acy.  Immediately  after  the  issuing  of  the  Proclamation, 
her  Convention  declared  the  State  out  of  the  Union.  As 
the  election  at  which  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  had 
been  chosen  indicated  a  majority  against  Secession,  the  act 
is  presumed  to  have  been  effected  by  menace  or  fraud.  The 
States  of  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  and  Arkansas,  also 
soon  after  joined  the  Confederacy,  which  was  then  com 
posed  of  eleven  States.  Four  Slave  States  only  remained 
in  the  Union  ;  and  three  of  these  contained  a  strong  seces 
sion  element,  which  rendered  their  adherence  to  the  Union 
for  a  time  doubtful. 

Early  in  May,  the  President  issued  a  proclamation  call 
ing  for  42,000  additional  volunteers,  and  directed  an  in 
crease  of  the  regular  army  and  of  the  navy.  In  and  about 
Washington  were  many  secret  traitors  and  spies,  who  did 
great  mischief.  Not  a  few  of  thorn  were  men  employed  in 
the  public  offices.  Numerous  arrests  were  made  •,  and 
some  of  the  persons  seized  got  released  by  means  of  toe 
writ  of  habeas  corpits  ;  which  induced  the  President,  as  a 
measure  of  safety,  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  this  writ. 
The  calling  out  of  the  troops,  and  the  summary  arrest  and 
imprisonment  of  persons  on  suspicion  of  their  being  trait 
ors,  and  the  suspension  of  this  writ,  have  caused  much  dis 
cussion.  It  is  held  by  some  that  the  powers  exercised  by 
the  Executive  in  these  acts  belong  to.  or  can  be  authorized, 
only  by  Congress.  Others  maintain  that  the  powers  exer 
cised  by  the  Executive  are,  by  a  just  and  liberal  construc 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  implied  in  the  powers  conferred 
upon  the  Executive  ;  and  that,  according  tD  any  other  in- 


222  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

terprctation,  ihc  Government  might,  in  certain  emergen 
cies,  be  overthrown.  It  is  also  held,  that,  in  a  case  of  im 
minent  peril  to  the  life  of  the  nation,  for  which  no  adequate 
provision  has  been  made,  an  Executive  would  be  justified 
in  acting  without  the  authority  of  a  positive  law.  Upon 
what  ground  the  President  justified  his  acts,  will  soon  ap 
pear  from  some  extracts  from  his  Message  to  Congress  at 
the  extra  session  in  July. 

Congress  met  in  specjal  session  on  the  4th  of  July,  1861. 

The  Message  of  President  Lincoln  was  calm  in  tone  and 
temper,  and  firm  in  purpose  to  preserve  the  Union.  In 
speaking  of  the  state  of  the  nation  as  it  was  at  the  time  of 
his  Inauguration,  he  said,  among  other  things  : 

"  A  disproportionate  share  of  the  Federal  muskets  and 
rifles  had  somehow  found  their  way  into  these  (Southern) 
States,  and  had  been  seized  to  be  used  against  the  Gov 
ernment.  Accumulations  of  the  public,  revenue,  lying  with 
in  them,  had  been  seized  for  the  same  object.  The  navy 
was  scattered  in  distant  seas,  leaving  but  a  very  small 
part  of  it  within  the  immediate  reach  of  the  Government. 
Officers  of  the  Federal  army  and  navy  had  resigned  in 
great  numbers,  and  of  those  resigning  a  large  proportion 
had  taken  up  arms  against  the  Government.  Simultan 
eously  and  in  connection  with  all  this,  the  purpose  to  sever 
the  Federal  Union  was  openly  avowed  ;  .  .  and  the 
Confederate  States  were  already  invoking  recognition,  aid, 
and  intervention  from  foreign  Powers. 

"  Finding  this  condition  of  things,  and  believing  it  to  be 
an  imperative  duty  upon  the  incoming-  Executive,  to  pre 
vent,  if  possible,  the  consummation  of  such  attempt  to  des 
troy  the  Federal  Union,  a  choice  of  means  to  that  end  be 
came  indispensable.  This  choice  was  made,  and  was  de 
clared  in  the  Inaugural  Address.  The  policy  chosen  look 
ed  to  the  exhaustion  of  all  peaceful  measures  before  a  re 
sort  to  any  stronger  ones.  It  sought  only  to  hold  all  the 
public  places  and  property  not  already  wrested  from  the 
Government,  and  to  collect  the  revenue,  relying  for  the 
rest  on  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box.  It  promised  a 
continuance  of  the  mails,  at  Government  expense,  to  the 
very  people  who  were  resisting  the  Government  ;  and.  it 


LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  223 

gave  repeated  pledges  against  any  disturbances  to  any  of 
the  people  or  any  of  their  rights  " 

The  President  recommended  provisions  for  raising  400,- 
000  men  and  $400,000,000. 

In  relation  to  the  exercise  of  the  disputed  powers  just 
alluded  to,  after  mentioning  the  call  for  75,000  men/and 
the  proclamation  ordering  the  closing  of  the  Southern  ports 
by  blockade,  oil  of  which  was  believed  to  be  strictly  legal, 
he  proceeds  to  say  : 

"  At  this  point  the  insurrectionists  announced  their  pur 
pose  to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  privateering. 

"  Other  calls  were  made  for  volunteers  to  serve  for  three 
years,  and  also  for  large  additions  to  the  regular  army  and 
navy.  These  measures,  whether  strictly  legal  or  not,  were 
ventured  upon  under  what  appeared  to  be  a  popular  demand 
and  a  public  necessity,  trusting  then,  as  now,  that  Congress 
would  readily  ratify  them. 

"  It  is  believed  that  nothing  has  been  done  beyond  the 
constitutional  competency  of  Congress.  Soon  after  the  first 
call  for  militia,  it  was  considered  a  duty  to  authorize  the 
Commanding-General,  in  proper  cases,  according  to  his 
discretion,  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  or  in  other  words,  to  arrest  and  detain,  without  re 
sort  to  the  ordinary  processes  and  forms  of  law,  such  indi 
viduals  as  he  might  deem  dangerous  to  the  public  safety. 
This  authority  has  purposely  been  exercised  but  very  spar 
ingly.  Nevertheless,  the  legality  and  propriety  of  what 
has  been  done  under  it  are  questioned  ;  and  the  attention 
of  the  country  has  been  called  to  the  proposition,  that  one 
who  has  sworn  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  exe 
cuted  should  not  himself  violate  them.  Of  course,  some 
consideration  was  given  to  the  questions  of  power  and  pro 
priety  before  this  matter  was  acted  upon.  The  whole  of 
the  laws  which  were  required  to  be  faithfully  executed, 
were  being  resisted  and  failing  of  execution  in  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  States.  Must  they  be  allowed  to  fail  of  execu 
tion,  even  had  it  been  perfectly  clear  that,  by  the  use  of 
the  means  necessary  to  their  execution,  some  single  law 
made  in  such  extreme  tenderness  to  the  citizen's  liberty, 
that,  practically,  it  relieves  more  of  the  guilty  than  the  in 
nocent,  should  to  a  very  limited  extent,  be  violated  ?  To 


224  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

state  the  question  more  directly,  arc  all  the  laws  but  one-  tc 
go  unexecuted,  and  the  Government  itself  go  to  pieces,  lest 
that  one  bo  violated  ? 

"  Even  in  such  case,  would  not  the  official  oath  be  broken, 
if  the  Government  should  be  overthrown,  when  it  was  be 
lieved  that  disregarding  the  single  law  would  tend  to  pre 
serve  it  ?  But  it  was  not  believed  that  this  question  was 
presented.  It  was  not  believed  that  any  law  was  violated. 
The  provision  of  the  Constitution  that  the  privilege  of  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when,  in 
cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require 
it,  is  equivalent  to  a  provision — 13  a  provision — that  such 
privilege  may  le  suspended,  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or 
invasion,  the  public  safety  does  require  it. 

"It  is  insisted  that  Congress,  and  not  the  Executive,  is 
vested  with  this  power.  But  the  Constitution  itself  is 
silent  as  to  which  or  who  shall  exercise  the  power  ;  and  as 
the  provision  was  plainly  made  for  a  dangerous  emergency, 
it  can  not  be  that  the  framers  of  tne  instrument  intended 
that  in  every  case  the  danger  should  run  its  course  until 
Congress  could  be  called  together,  the  very  assembling  of 
which  might  be  prevented,  as  was  intended  in  this  case  by 
the  rebellion." 

Quotations  of  such  length  from  the  Message  have  been 
given,  that  the  reader  may  fully  understand  the  reasons  of 
the  President  for  the  exercise  of  powers  which  hi.s  political 
opponents  allege  to  have  been  unauthorized. 

Congress  adjourned  on  the  6th  of  August.  The  session 
was  remarkable  for  the  unanimity  of  its  proceedings. 
Party  distinctions  were  scarcely  visible.  All  parties  seem 
ed  united  in  a  hearty  effort  to  rescue  the  Republic  from  the 
conspiracy  which  was  striking  at  its  existence.  Grants  of 
men  and  means  were  voted  ;  and  authority  to  meet  the 
emergency  was  conferred  upon  the  Executive. 

To  increase  the  revenue,  a  Tariff  and  Direct  Tax  bill  was 
passed,  by  which  the  Tariff  of  Mar'-h  was  modified  ;  and  a 
direct  tax  of  $20,000,000  annually  was  authorized  to  be 
levied  upon  the  property  and  income  of  the  people  of  the 
States  and  Territories,  including  tlie  seceded  States. 

As  the  powers  exercised  by  President  Lincoln  in  his  early 
neasures  for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion  had  been 


LINCOLN'S  ADMINISTRATION.  225 

questioned,  Congress  passed  "  An  Act  further  to  provide 
for  the  Collection  of  Duties  on  Import*  and  for  other  pur 
poses,"  which  enables  the  President,  in  similar  cases,  to 
take  the  necessary  mes.sures  to  execute  the  revenue -laws. 
It  provides  that,  if  the  duties  can  not  be  collected  in  the 
ordinary  way,  and  in  the  obstructed*  ports,  they  may  be 
collected  at  other  ports  in  the  collection  district,  or  on 
board  of  vessels  ;  and  such  force  as  shall  be  deemed  neces 
sary  may  be  employed  to  carry  the  law  into  effect.  The 
act  also  authorizes  the  prohibition  of  all  commercial  inter 
course  between  a  rebelling-  State  and  other  States. 

A  confiscation  act  was  also  passed,  by  which  all  property 
employed  or  used  in  aiding  an  insurrection  is  to  be  confis 
cated.  And  all  slaves  required  or  permitted  by  their  mas 
ters  to  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States,  or  to  work 
in  or  upon  forts,  intrenchments,  navy-yards,  ships,  &c., 
against  the  Government,  are  to  be  free. 

It  was  doubtless,  from  the  beginning,  the  hope  of  the 
rebel  leaders  to  obtain  an  early  recognition  of  th#ir  Con 
federacy  by  Foreign  Powers  ;  and  especially  did  they  cle- 
sire  such  acknowledgment  by  France  and  England.  In 
November  Mason  and  Slidell  were  sent  to  represent  the 
Confederacy  at  the  Governments  of  these  two  countries. 
Our  Government  having  been  informed  of  their  escape  from 
Charleston,  dispatched  a  steamer  in  pursuit  of  them.  They 
proceeded,  however,  to  Havana,  where  they  took  passage 
in  the  English  mail  packet  Trent  for  England..  Captain 
Wilkes,  on  his  return  from  the  African  coast,  having  heard 
of  it,  waylaid  the  Trent,  brought  her  to,  seized  these  gen 
tlemen  with  their  Secretary,  Eustace,  and  brought  them  in 
his  own  ship  to  the  United  States.  The  announcement'  of 
their  capture  caused  great  rejoicing,  until  it  became 
known  that  England  considered  the  seizure  of  these 
men  an  insult  to  her  flag.  Mason  and  Slidell  were  confined 
in  Fort  Warren,  near  Boston,  awaiting  the  action  of  the 
two  Governments.  A  demand  was  at  length  made  by 
England  for  their  release,  which  was  granted  by  our  Gov 
ernment.  Secretary  Seward,  in  reply  to  this  demand,  as 
signs  as  a  reason  for  the  surrender  of  the  prisoners,  that 
Captain  Wilkes  had  not,  as  required  by  the  law  of  nations, 
in  arresting  a  vessel  of  a  neutral  nation  suspected  of  car 


226  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

rj'ing  contraband  articles,  brought  her  into  a  neutral  port 
for  trial. 

Congress  met  on  the  2d  of  December,  1861.  President 
Lincoln  the  next  day  transmitted  to  both  Houses  his  first 
Annual  Message,  this  being  the  first  regular  session  of  the 
37th  Congress.  In  reference  to  the  attitude  which  the  na 
tion  should  maintain  with  regard  to  slaves  and  Slavery,  he 
said  : 

"  In  considering"  the  policy  to  be  adopted  for  suppressing 
the  insurrection,  I  have  been  anxious  and  careful  that  the 
inevitable  conflict  for  this  purpose  shall  not  degenerate  into 
a  violent  and  remorseless  revolutionary  struggle.  I  have,, 
therefore,  in  every  case,  thought  it  proper  to  keep  the  in 
tegrity  of  the  Union  prominent  as  the  primary  object  of  the 
contest  on  our  part,  leaving  all  questions  which  are  not  of 
vital  military  importance  to  the  more  deliberate  action  of 
the  Legiylatjire.  In  the  exercise  of  my  best  discretion,  I 
have  adhered  to  the  blockade  of  the  ports  held  by  the  in 
surgents,  insteafc  of  putting  in  force  by  proclamation  the 
law  of  Congress  enacted  at  the  late  session  for  closing  those 
ports.  So  also,  obeying  the  dictates  of  prudence  as  well  rs 
the  obligations  of  law,  instead  of  transcending,  I  have  ad 
hered  to  the  act  of  Congress  to  confiscate  property  used  for 
insurrectionary  purposes.  If  a  new  law  upon  the  same 
subject  shall  be  proposed,  its  propriety  will  be  duly  con 
sidered.  The  Union  must  be  preserved  ;  and  hence  all  in 
dispensable  means  must  be  employed.  We  should  not  be 
in  haste  to  determine  that  radical  and  extreme  measures, 
which  may  reach  the  loyal  as  well  o.s  the  disloyal,  are  in 
dispensable." 

Me  here  alludes  to  the  Confiscation  Act  passed  at  the 
extra  session  in  July.  He  signed  that  act  with  great  re 
luctance  ;  but  his  doubts  of  its  policy  and  justice  seem  to 
have  been  removed.  He  had  become  convinced — and  the 
public  mind  was  rapidly  coming  to  the  conclusion — that, 
as  the  Rebellion  in  a  great  measure  derived  its  support 
from  Slavery,  and  that,  as  the  labor  oTthe  slaves  was  scarce- 
\y  less  serviceable  than  the  same  number  of  soldiers,  the 
latter  subsisting  on.  the  products  of  that  labor  ;  it  was  just 
and  proper  that,  instead  of  remanding  to  their  owners 
slaves  that  came  to  our  side  of  the  lines,  they  should  be 
retained,  and  employed  on  our  works  of  defense. 


227 

An  act  was  passed  at  tin's  session  prohibiting  Slavery  in 
all  present  and  future  Territories  of  the  United  States. 

Another  act  was  passed,  petitions  for  which  had  so  long* 
agitated  Congress  and  the  country,  but  which  had  many 
years  ago  ceased  to  be  prayed  for — the  abolition  of  Slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  This  act  contains  a  provision 
which  requires  compensation  to  be  made  by  the  Govern 
ment  to  the  owners  of  the  slaves. 

In  July,  1862,  the  President  issued  a  Proclamation  by 
which  he  confiscated  the  property  of  all  persons  who,  at 
the  end  of  sixty  days,  should  still  continue  in  rebellion 
against  the  Government.  And  on  the  22d  of  September  he 
issued  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  declaring  that, 
on  the  1st  day  of  January,  all  slaves  in  any  rebel  State 
should  thereafter  be  FOREVER  FREE  ;  the  States  then  in  re 
bellion  to  be  designated  by  proclamation  of  the  President. 
And  he  calls  attention  to  the  Confiscation  Act,  and  the  act 
of  March,  1862,  which  makes  an  additional  article  of  war, 
forbidding  the  forcible  returning  of  fugitives  to  their  mas 
ters,  and  enjoins  obedience  to  the  requirements  of  these 
acts. 

The  policy  of  proclaiming  freedom  to  the  slaves  in  the 
rebellious  States,  had  for  some  time  been  suggested  as  a 
measure  of  safety  to  the  nation.  It  was,  however,  deemed 
by  many  as  of  doubtful  expediency  as  well  as  constitution 
ality,  Mr.  Lincoln,  whatever  may  have  been  his  opinion, 
prudently  deferred  action  until  public  sentiment  seemed  to 
call  for  the  measure.  It  was  condemned,  however,  by' the 
mass  of  the  Democratic  party  ;  and  not  a  few  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  political  friends  deemed  it  impolitic,  as  it  would 
tend  to  alienate  many  Union  men  in  the  Southern  States, 
and  essentially  weaken  the  Union  cause  without  effecting 
its  intended  object.  It  is  believed  that  comparatively  few 
of  the  friends  of  the  administration,  or  of  others  who  do 
not  sympathize  with  the  slaveholders,  now  regret  the 
measure. 

The  idea  of  this  mode  of  emancipation  was  n&t  conceived 
since  the  commencement  of  the  Rebellion.  Many  years 
ago,  in  a  debate  on  a  resolution  affirming  the  exclusive 
right  of  the  Slave  States  to  abolish  Slavery,  John  Quincy 
Adams  said  : 


228  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

"  V>'hen  your  county  is  actually  in  war,  whether  it  be 
a  war  ot  invasion  or  a  war  of  insurrection,  Congress  has 
power  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  must  carry  it  on  according 
to  the  laws  of  war  ;  and  by  the  laws  of  war  an  invaded 
country  has  all  its  laws  and  municipal  institutions  swept  by 
the  board,  and  martial  law  takes  the  place  of  them.  This 
power  in  Congress  has  perhaps  never  been  called  into  ex 
ercise  under  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
But  when  the  laws  of  war  are  in  force,  what,  I  ask,  is  one 
of  those  laws  ?  It  is  this  :  that  when  a  country  is  invad 
ed,  and  two  hostile  armies  are  set  in  martial  array,  the 
commanders  of  both  armies  have  power  to  emancipate  all 
the  slaves  in  the  invaded  territory.  Nor  is  this  a  mere 
theoretic  statement.  The  history  of  South  America  shows 
that  the  doctrine  has  been  carried  into  practical  execution 
within  the  last  thirty  years.  Slavery  was  abolished  in 
Colombia,  first  by  the  Spanish  General  Morillo,  and  second 
ly  by  the  American  General  Bolivar.  It  was  abolished  by 
virtue  of  a  military  command  given  at  the  head  of  the 
army,  and  its  abolition  continues  to  be  law  to  this  day. 
It  was  abolished  by  the  laws  of  war,  and  not  by  municipal 
enactments.  *  *  * 

"  I  might  furnish  a  thousand  proofs  to  show  that  the  pre 
tensions  of  gentlemen  to  the  sanctity  of  their  municipal  in 
stitutions,  under  a  state  of  actual  invasion  and  of  actual 
war,  whether  servile,  civil,  or  foreign,  are  wholly  unfound 
ed,  and  that  the  laws  of  war  do,  in  all  such  cases,  take  the 
precedence.  I  lay  this  down  as  the  law  of  nations.  I  say 
that  the  military  authority  takes,  for  the  time,  the  place  of 
all  municipal  institutions,  Slavery  among  the  rest.  Under 
that  state  of  things,  so  far  from  its  being  true  that  the 
States  where  Slavery  exists  have  the  exclusive  management 
of  the  subject,  not  only  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
but  the  Comnmnder  of  the  Army,  has  power  to  order  the  uni 
versal  emancij)ation  of  the  slaves." 

Nor  did  this  doctrine  originate  with  Mr.  Adams.  In  the 
Virginia  Convention  which  ratified  the  Constitution,  Patrick 
Henry  opposed  the  ratification  on  the  ground  that  it  gave 
to  Congress  the  power,  under  certain  circumstances,  to 
abolish  Slavey.  He  said  : 

"  One  of  the  great  objects  of  Government  is  the  national 


229 

defense.  The  Constitution  gives  power  to  the  General 
Government  to  provide  for  the  general  defense,  and  the 
means  must  be  commensurate  to  the  end.  All  the  means 
in  the  possession  of  the  people  must  be  given  to  the  Gov 
ernment  which  is  intrusted  with  the  public  defense.  May 
Congress  net  Gay  every  black  man  must  fight  ?  In  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  Virginia  passed  an  act  of  Assembly,  that 
every  slave  who  would  join  the  army  should  be  free.  At 
some  future  time,  Congress  will  search  the  Constitution  to 
see  if  they  have  not  the  power  of  manumission.  And  have 
they  not,  sir  ?  Have  they  not  the  power  to  provide  for  the 
general  defense  and  welfare  ?  May  they  not  think  that 
these  call  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  ?  May  they  not  pro 
nounce  all  slaves  free  ?  and  will  they  not  be  warranted  by 
that  power  ?  The  paper  speaks  to  the  point  ;  they  have 
the  power  in  clear,  unequivocal  terms,  and  will  clearly  and 
certainly  exercise  it." 

In  the  latter  part  of  September,  a  meeting  of  the  Gover 
nors  of  the  loyal  States  was  held  at  Altoona,  Pa.,  to  con 
sult  on  the  interests  of  the  nation.  About  one  half  of  them 
were  present,  and  some  of  those  absent  were  represented 
by  men  of  their  choice.  They  united  in  a  memorial  approv 
ing  the  President's  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  re 
solved,  by  every  proper  and  lawful  means,  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  the  Government  in  the  struggle  against  the 
Rebellion. 

Congress  assemble^  on  the  1st  of  December,  1862.  The 
President,  in  his  Message,  recommended  to  Congress  a 
plan  of  Emancipation,  to  be  embodied  in  articles,  and  pro 
posed  to  the  State  Legislatures  or  to  State  Conventions 
for  ratification.  The  propositions  were  substantially  as 
follows  : 

1.  Any  State    abolishing    Slavery   prior   to   the   1st  of 
January,  1900,  should,  receive  for  each  slave  emancipated  a 
certain  compensation. 

2.  Slaves  having  "  enjoyed   freedom  by  the  chances  of 
the  war,"  to  be  forever  free  ;  loyal  owners  to  be  compen 
sated. 

3.  Congress   might  provide  for  colonizing  free  colored 
persons,  with  their  own  consent,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
United  States. 


230  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

These  propositions  of  the  President  were  by  some  erron 
eously  considered  as  inconsistent  with,  or  an  abandonment 
of,  his  Emancipation  policy.  The  project  embodied  in  tha 
Message,  however,  had  respect  to  loyal  States  and  those 
•which  should  become  such,  and  was  designed  as  a  measure 
of  conciliation  and  peace.  The  Proclamation  was  a  war 
measure,  and  intended  to  operate  only  on  Rebels,  to  weaken 
their  power. 

The  first  of  January,  18fi3,  was  approaching,  and  a  deep 
interest  was  felt  in  regard  to  the  promised  Proclamation  of 
the  President.  The  opinion  had  been  expressed  that  ho 
would  recede  from  the  position  he  had  taken  in  the  Pro 
clamation  of  September,  which  declared  that  "  all  persons 
held  'as  slaves  within  any  State  or  designated  part  of  a 
State,  the  people  ivhercof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  shall  be  then,  henceforth,  and  FOREVER 

FREE." 

In  the  last  Proclamation,  he  designates,  as  being  in  re 
bellion,  all  the  seceded  States,  except  Tennessee,  (which 
is  not  named,)  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West 
Virginia,  and  seven  counties,  including  the  Cities  of  Nor 
folk  and  Portsmouth,  in  the  Eastern  part  of  Virginia  ;  and 
thirteen  parishes,  (counties,)  including  the  City  of  Xew 
Orleans,  in  Louisiana.  The  State  and  the  parts  of  States  ex 
empted  from  the  effect  of  the  Proclamation,  were  consider 
ed  as  having  been  recovered  to  the  Union.  The  people 
declared  free  are  enjoined  to  abstain  from  all  violence ; 
and  advised  to  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages  ;  and 
they  are  informed  that  they  will  be  received  into  the  armed 
service  of  the  United  States.  The  repugnance  to  the  em 
ployment  of  colored  men  in  the  army,  which  long  prevail 
ed,  has  been  nearly  overcome  ;  and  about  25,000  of  these 
former  aiders  of  the  Rebellion  have  already  been  added  to 
the  force  of  the  Union.  , 

About  the  time  of  the  issuing  of  this  last  Proclamation, 
West  Virginia  was,  by  an  act  of  Congress,  admitted  into 
the  Union.  The  measure  had  met  with  much  opposition 
both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  but  was  carried  by  heavy 
votes.  The  President  was  said  to  have  taken  the  written 
opinions  of  all  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  before  he  gave 
the  bill  his  signature. 


ANTI-DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.  231 


CHAPTER    XI. 


Present  Parties  contrasted.      The  Democratic  Party  the  Party  of  the 
Rebellion. 

ALTHOUGH  there  are  in  the  Free  States  few  who  in  ex 
press  terms  justify  the  Rebellion,  no  fact  is  more  clear  than 
that  a  majority  of  those  who  now  compose  the  Democratic 
party,  either  sympathize  with  those  who  are  in  arms  against 
the  Government,  or  palliate  the  treason.  In  almost  every 
official  document  relating  to  the  subject,  in  the  proceedings 
of  party  Conventions,  in  speeches,  and  in  private  conversa 
tion,  Democrats  have  charged  those  who  have  opposed  the 
extension  of  Slavery,  with  being  the  criminal  authors  of 
our  present  national  troubles.  On  the  other  hand,  scarcely 
a  sentiment  uttered,  or  an  act  performed,  or  a  public  mea 
sure  demanded,  by*  the  slaveholders,  in  favor  of  Slavery, 
has  been  condemned  or  opposed  by  the  mass  of  that  party. 
Certain  it  is,  that  many  of  the  most  flagitious  outrages  upon 
individual  rights,  murder  not  excepted,  have  been  palliated 
or  tacitly  approved,  and  not  one  has  been  generally  and  heartily 
condemned:  Some  facts  sustaining  these  assertions  have 
been  given  in  preceding  Chapters  ;  to  these  others  will  be 
added.  It  is  designed  also  to  defend  the  opponents  .of  the 
Pro-Slavery  Democracy  against  the  slanders  and  censures 
of  their  adversaries,  and  vindicate  their  principles  and  their 
policy.  They  entertain  or  propagate  no  new  sentiments 
on  the  subject  of  Slavery — none  that  were  not  avowed  and 
inculcated  by  the  Fathers  long  before  and  long  after  <.tho 
organization  of  the  Government.  Their  first  and  leading 
principle  is  that  self-evident  truth  asserted  in  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence — the  political  equality  of  mankind.  Mod 
ern  Democrats,  North  as  well  as  South,  deny  that  Jefferson 
and  his  compatriots  meant  to  include  in  the  words,  "  all 
men,"  the  African  race.  This  is  a  wanton  siander  upon 
their  reputation — a  modern  irjvention.  To  prove  it  such, 


232  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

we  have  only  to  show  that  they  condemned  Slavery.  The 
enslavement  of  the  African  race  is  sought  to  be  justified  on 
the  ground  that  they  are  naturally  incapable  of  taking  care 
of  or  governing  themselves,  and  consequently  were  de 
signed  by  the  Creator  to  be  the  chattels  of  the  more  highly 
endowed  races.  Our  Fathers  condemned  Slavery,  and 
advocated  the  manumission  of  the  slaves.  This  they  could 
not  consistently  do  if  they  had  not  believed  them  entitled 
to  the  "  inalienable  rights"  which  they  claimed  for  themselves. 
Hear  what  they  said  oh  this  subject  : 

"  It  is  checking  to  human  nature  that  any  race,  of  mankind  and 
their  posterity  should  be  sentenced  to  perpetital  Slavery  ;  nor  in 
justice  can  we  think  otherwise  of  it,  than  that  they  are  thrown 
amongst  us  to  le  our  scourge  one  day  or  other  for  our  sins  ;  and 
as  freedom  must  be  as  dear  to  them  as  to  us,  what  a  scene 
of  horror  must  it  bring  about  !  And  the  longer  it  is  unex 
ecuted,  the  bloody  scene  must  be  the  greater." — Memorial  oj 
Citizens  of  New  Inverness,  Georgia,  to  Gen.  Oglelhorpe,  1739. 

"  There  is  not  a  man  living  who  wishes  more  sincerely 
than  I  do  to  see  a  plan  adopted  far  the  abolition  of  it,  (Slavery  ;) 
but  there  is  only  one  proper  and  effectual  m.ode  in  which  it 
can  be  accomplished,  and  that  is  by  legislative  authority  ; 
and  this  so  far  as  my  suffrage  will  go,  shall  never  be  want 
ing." —  Washington  to  Robert  Morris* 

"  I  never  mean,  unless  some  particular  circumstance 
should  compel  me  to  it,  to  possess  another  slave  by  pur 
chase,  it  being  among  my  first  wishes  to  see  some  plan  adopted 
by  which  Slavery  in  this  country  may  be  abolished  by 
}aw t»,_  Same  to  John  F.  Mercer. 

Jefferson,  supposing  the  case  of  the  slaves  rising  some 
day  for  freedom,  said  :  "  The  Almighty  has  no  attribute 
which  can  take  sides  with  us  in  such  a  contest." — Notes  on 
Virginia. 

"  The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave  is  a 
continual  exercise  of  the  most  unremitting  despotism  on  the,  one 
part,  and  degrading  submission  on  the  other.';  *  *  * 
"  With  what  execration  should  the  statesman  be  loaded  who, 
permitting  one  half  of  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on  the 
rights  of  the  other,  transforms  those  into  depots,  and  these 
into  enemies,  destroys  the  morals  of  the  one  part,  arid  the  amor 
patria  of  the  other  !  Can  the  liberties  of  the  nation  be 


ANTI-DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  233 

thought  secure  when  we  have  removed  their  only  firm 
basis — a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  these 
liberties  arc  the  gift  of  God  ?  That  they  are  not  violated 
but  by  his  wrath  ?  Indeed,  I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I 
reflect  that  God  is  just,  and  his  justice  can  not  sleep  forever." — 
Notes  on  Virginia. 

"  My  sentiments  [in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  Slavery] 
have  been  forty  years  before  the  public.  Had  I  repeated 
them  forty  times,  they  would  only  become  more  stale  and 
threadbare.  Although  I  shall  not  live  to  see  them  consum 
mated,  they  will  not  die  with  me;  but  living  or  dying,  they 
will  ever  be  in  my  most  fervent  prayers." — Letter  to  James 
Heaton,  1826. 

For  language  far  more  mild  than  that  here  employed  by 
Jefferson  against  Slavery,  men  have  since  his  day  suffered 
death  in  this  land  of  liberty  ! 

"  I  think  it  wrong  to  admit  into  the  Constitution  the  idea 
that  a  man  may  have  property  in  man." — James  Madison  in 
Cons.  Conv. 

11  The  augmentation  of  slaves  weakens  the  States  ;  and 
such  a  trade  is  diabolical  in  itself,  and  disgraceful  to  man 
kind.  As  much  as  I  value  a  union  of  these  States,  I  would 
not  admit  the  Southern  States  [South  Carolina  and 
Georgia]  into  the  Union,  unless  they  agree  to  a  discontin 
uance  of  this  disgraceful  trade." — George  Mason,  of  Virginia, 
in  Cons.  Conv. 

11  By  the  eternal  principles  of  justice,  no  master  in  the 
State  has  a  right  to  hold  his  slave  in  bondage  for  a  single 
hour."  *  •  *  *  "In  the  name  of  Heaven,  with  what  face 
can  we  call  ourselves  the  friends  of  equal  freedom  and  the 
inherent  rights  of  our  species,  when  we  pass  laws  inimical 
to  each  ;  when  we  reject  every  opportunity  of  destroying, 
by  silent  and  imperceptible  degrees,  the  horrid  fabric  of  in 
dividual  bondage  reared  by  the  mercenary  bands  of  those  from 
whom  the  sacred  flame  of  Liberty  received  no  devotion" — Wm. 
Pinkney  to  the  Maryland  Legislature,  June,  1789. 

"  Never  will  your  country  be  productive,  never  will  its 
agriculture,  its  commerce,  or  its  manufactures  flourish,  so 
long  as  they  depend  on  reluctant  bondmen  for  their  pro 
gress.  '  Even  the-  very  earth/  says  Montesquieu,  '  which 
beams  with  profusion  under  the  cultivating  hand  of  the 


234  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

free-born  laborer,  shrinks  into  barrenness  from  the  contam 
inating  sweat  of  a  slave.7  This  sentiment  is  not  more 
figuratively  beautiful  than  it  is  just." — Same  to  same, 
November,  1789. 

Volumes  might  be  filled  with  quotations  from  our  old 
patriots  and  statesmen,  similar  to  the  foregoing.  To  utter 
or  publish  such  sentiments  within  the  present  revolting 
States  would  subject  him  who  uttered  them  to  the  halter, 
without  judge  or  jury,  or  "  the  benefit  of  the  clergy."  The 
men:  suspicion  that  men  have  entertained  opinions  unfavor 
able  to  Slavery,  has  made  them  the  victims  of  fiendish  mobs, 
instigated  by  men  in  high  social  position,  and  in  politics 
allied  with  Northern  Democrats  in  hunting  down,  and  de 
nouncing  as  "  aggressors  upon  Southern  rights,"  all  who 
dare  question  the  morality  of  "  the  institution,"  or  its  right 
to  unlimited  extension.  Where  is  the  man,  however  ortho 
dox  in  every  other  respect,  yet  manifesting  the  least  dis 
position  to  weaken  the  Slave  Power,  or  in  any  way  to 
oppose  its  taking  possession  of  our  free  territory,  who  has, 
for  many  years  past,  been  knowingly  nominated  and  elected 
to  any  important  office  by  the  Democratic  party,  or  who 
has  been  appointed  to  sucii  ollice  by  a  Democratic  Execu 
tive  ?  There  may  have  been  such  instances  ;  but  they  are 
believed  to  be  very  rare.  Sympathy  and  cooperation  with 
slaveholders  have  been,  and  are  stilt  made  by  the  party,  an 
indispensable  qualification  for  ojjice.  The  right  ot  the  Slave 
Power  to  appropriate  to  its  use  all  the  territorial  posses- 
sioas  of  the  United  States,  is  the  very  "corner  stone"  of  the 
Democratic  Platform. 

.Not  only  do  the  opponents  of  the  Democratic  party  agree 
with  the  political  Fathers  in  respect  to  the  immorality  and  in 
justice  of  Slavery,  but  also  in  the  political  expediency  and  con 
stitutionality  of  its  restriction.  By  a  Georgia  Colonial  Con 
gress,  in  1775,  Slavery  was  pronounced  "dangerous  to  our 
liberties  as  well  as  lives  ;  debasing  part  of  our  fellow  crea 
tures  below  men,  and  corrupting  the  virtue  and  morals  of 
the  rest  ;  and  which  is  laying  the  basis  of  tfiat  liberty  ice  con 
tend  for,  and  which  we  pray  the  Almighty  to  continue  to 
tbe  latest  posterity,  upon  a  very  wrong  foundation ."  JelTer- 
son  said,  it  "  transforms  men  into  despots,  and  endangers  our 
liberties.1"  Mason  said,  it  "  weakens  the  Stales."  Pinkney 


ANTI-DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  235 

said,  it  was  "  injurious  to  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manu 
factures.^  '  This  is  proved  by  a  comparison  of  the- Slave 
States  with  the  Free  States.  The  expediency  of  restricting 
and  abolishing  Slavery,  was  not  generally  questioned  at 
that  time  ;  nor  is  it  now  by  the  opponents  of  the  Democra 
tic  party. 

So  also  do  they  hold  to  the  old  established  doctrine  of 
the  power  of  Congress  over  Slavery  in  the  Territories.  This- 
power  was  exercised  by  the  first  Congress  under  the  pre 
sent  Constitution,  in  an  act  recognizing  and  enforcing  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  which  prohibited  Slavery  in  the  Terri 
tory  North- West  of  the  Ohio.  In  this  Congress  were  six 
teen  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  one  of  whom 
reported  the  bill  for  this  act,  which  was  signed  by  Wash 
ington,  also  one  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  No  one, 
so  far  as  the  record  shows,  expressed  a  doubt  of  its  consti 
tutionality.  Subsequently  North  Carolina  and  Georgia 
ceded  to  the  General  Government  the  territory  now  consti 
tuting  the  States  of  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama. 
In  the  deeds  of  cession  was  a  condition  that  Congress 
should  not  prohibit  Slavery  in  the  territory  ;  implying  that 
Congress  had  the  power.  But,  though  Congress  did  not 
prohibit  Slavery,  it  did  interfere  with  and  contract  it  to 
some  extent.  The  act  of  1798  organizing  the  Territory  of 
Mississippi,  prohibited,  by  fine,  the  bringing  of  slaves  into 
it  from  any  place  without  the  United  States  ;  and  slaves  so 
brought  were  to  be  free.  In  this  Congress  aiso  were.seyeral 
who  had  been  members  ^of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 
A  still  more  marked  restriction  of  Slavery  was  incorporated 
into  the  act  organizing,  in  180-1,  the  Territory  of  Orleans, 
now  the  State  of  Louisiana.  In  this  Congress  were  two  of 
those  who  had  framed  the  Constitution.  In  passing  the 
Missouri  Compromise  act,  power  over  Slavery  was  again 
exercised  by  Congress,  in  prohibiting  its  extension  North 
of  latitude  36  deg.  30  nrin.  In  numerous  other  acts  has 
the  power  been  exercised,  without  objection ,  on  constitu- 
ti^lfial  grounds,  even  from  Southern  members.  The  doctrine 
in  question  has  been  tacitly  acknowledged  or  expressly  de 
clared  by  leading  politicians,  statesmen,  and  jurists,  North 
and  South,  some  of  whom  are  now  prominent  in  the  Demo 
cratic  party  ;  also  by  Democratic  State  Legislatures. 


236  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

In  1848,  the  Legislature  of  Wisconsin,  (Democratic,) 
with  only  three  dissenting1  votes  in  the  Senate,  and  five  in 
the  House,  declared  Slavery  to  be  "  an  evil  of  the  first  mag 
nitude,  morally  and  politically,"  and  instructed  the  Sena 
tors  and  requested  the  Representatives  of  that  State  in 
Congress,  to  use  their  influence  in  favor  of  inserting  in  the 
act  organizing  any  new  Territory,  a  provision  against  the 
introduction  of  Slavery  into  it. 

In  1849,  a  Convention  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Maine, 
declared  Slavery  to  be  "  at  variance  with  the  theory  of  our 
Government,  abhorrent  to  the  common  sentiments  of  man 
kind,  and  fraught  with  danger  to  all  who  come  within  the 
sphere  of  its  influence  ;  and  that  the.  Federal  Government  pos 
sesses  adequate  power  to  inhibit  its  existence  in  t/ie  Territories  of 
this  Union;"  and  they  enjoined  the  Senators  and  Represen 
tatives  to  "employ  all  their  influence  to  procure  the  passage 
of  a  law  forever  excluding  Slavery  from  the  Territories  of 
California  and  New-Mexico." 

In  1847,  the  Legislature  of  Delaware,  while  the  United 
States  were  at  war  with  Mexico,  declared  the  war  to  have 
been  "  occasioned  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  with  a  view 
to  the  addition  of  Slave  Territory  to  our  country,  and  the 
extending  of  the  Slave  Power  in  our  Union  ;"  declared  such 
"  acquisitions  to  be  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  our  free  institu 
tions,  and  contrary  to  sound  morality  ;"  and  instructed 
their  members  of  Congress  "  to  vote  against  the  annexation 
of  any  territory  to  our  Union,  which  shall  not  thereafter  be 
forever  free  from  Slavery.'7 

In  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  January,  1847,  Samuel 
Young,  a  Democratic  Senator,  introduced  a  resolution  to 
the  effect,  that,  if  any  territory  should  be  thereafter  ac 
quired,  the  act  by  which  it  should  be  acquired  or  annexed, 
should  contain  a  provision  whereby  Slavery  should  be  for 
ever  excluded  therefrom. 

Similar  resolutions  have  been  several  times  passed  by 
the  Legislature  of  New  York  by  votes  nearly  unanimous, 
Democrats  voting  with  their  Whig  opponents  in  the  aCfrra- 
ative.  The  resolutions  of  1849  were  presented  in  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States,  and  supported  in  an  able  speech, 
by  lion.  John  A.  Dix,  a  distinguished  Democrat.  In  his 
speech  he  said  : 


f  ANTI-DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  23 1 

"With  a  single  exception,  all  the  non-slaveholding  and 
one  of  the  slaveholding  States,  have  declared  themselves 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  Slavery  into  territory  now  free. 
Sir,  I  fully  concur  in  the  propriety  of  this  declaration.  I 
believe  that  Congress  has  the  power  to  prohibit  Slavery  in 
California  and  New-Mexico  ;  that  it  is  our  duty  to  exercise 
the  power,  and  that  it  should  be  exercised  now." 

At  a  Democratic  meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in 
October,  1848,  at  which  those  prominent  Democrats,  S.  J. 
Tilden,  John  Van  Buren,  and  John  Cochrane  made  speeches, 
Mr.  Cochrane  introduced  resolutions  strongly  denouncing 
Slavery  and  its  extension  to  new  territory  ;  and  they  were 
adopted. 

1^1848,  Greene  C.  Bronson,  Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of 
New' York,  then  and  now  a  Democrat,  in  a  letter  declining 
an  invitation  to  a  political  meeting,  wrote  : 

"  Slavery  can  not  exist  where  there  is  no  positive  law  to 
uphold  it.  It  is  not  necessary  that  it  should  be  forbidden  ; 
it  is  enough  that  it  is  not  specially  authorized.  If  the  own 
er  of  slaves  removes  with  or  sends  them  into  an}r  country, 
State,  or  Territory,  where  Slavery  does  not  exist  by  law, 
they  will  from  that  moment  become  free  men  ;  and  they 
will  have  as  good  a  right  to  command  the  master,  as  he 
will  have  to  command  them.  Entertaining  no  doubt  upon 
that  question,  I  can  see  no  occasion  for  asking  Congress  to 
legislate  against  the  extension  of  Slo,very  into  free  terri 
tory  ;  and  as  a  question  of  policy,  I  think  it  had  better  be 
let  alone."  *  *  *  "  But  if  our  Southern  brethren  should 
make  the  question,  we  shall  have  no  choice  but  to  meet  it ; 
and  then,  whatever  consequences  may  follow,  I  trust  the 
people  of  the  Free  States  will  give  a  united  voice  against 
allowing  Slavery  on  a  single  foot  of  soil  where  it  is  not  now 
authorized  by  law." 

Declarations  similar  to  the  foregoing  have  been  made  by 
many  other  prominent  Democratic  statesmen  ;  and  resolu 
tions  in  favor  of  prohibiting  Slavery  in  the  Territories  have 
been  passed  by  other  Democratic  Legislatures  than  those 
which  have  been  mentioned. 

In  view  of  all  this,  why  has  the  Republican  party  been 
represented  as  sectional,  ultra,  radical,  and  even  revolu 
tionary,  when  the  truth  is,  it  is  THE  CONSERVATIVE  PARTY  OF 


233  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR.  * 

THE  uxiox — standing  upon  the  Platform  b  nil  I,  by  tlic  founders 
of  ou>-  (I'oi't'tnmcnt,  and  holding1  the  same  doctrines  which 
were  until  recently  avu\ve<l  l>y  some  of  the  very  men  who 
now  stigmatize  the  party  as  sectional,  radical,  aggressive, 
£c.,  &c.  Among  these  men  are  Gushing  and  others,  of 
achusetts  ;  Fillmore,  Hunt,  Granger,  the  Brookses,  and 
a  large  number  of  others,  of  New  York  ;  and  a  greater  or 
less  number  in  other  States. 

Passing  over  the  affirmative  answers  of  Mr.  Fillmore  to 
the  "radical"  questions  of  the  Abolitionists  in  1838,  when 
he  was  a  candidate  for  Congress,  what  sentiments  did  he 
utter  in  his  elaborate  speech  delivered  in  many  places 
during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1844  ?  The  principal 
issues  between  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  were  the 
Tariff,  Oregon,  and  Texas  questions.  Having  disposed  of 
the  others,  and  come  to  the  last,  he  remarked,  in  substance  : 
"  Important  as  are  those  questions  upon  which  I  have 
spoken,  compared  with  this  great  question  of  the  extension 
of  Slavery,  they  dwindle  into  insignificance  /''  He  stated 
the  fact  that  the  South  had  furnished  Presidents  for  forty- 
four  out  of  the  fifty-six  years  since  the  organization  of  the 
Government,  and  was  now  presenting  still  another  candi 
date  1  lie  told  liis  hearers  also  how  much  more  than  a  due 
proportion  of  the  time  other  important  offices  had  been 
filled  by  the  South.  Earnestly  did  he  urge  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  prohibit  the  extension  of  Slave  Territory  ; 
such^prohibition  being  then,  of  all  others,  the  object  of  the 
Whig  party  of  the  North.  Of  the  questions  which  divided 
the  two  great  parties  in  1844,  the  two  which  may  be  con 
sidered  as  not  now  permanently  disposed  of  or  settled,  and 
which  arc  likely  to  arise  again,  are  the  Tariff  and  Slavery 
Restrictions,  on  both  of  which  the  Republican  party  stands 
precisely  where  Mr.  Fillmore  and  his  associates  stood  until 
1850,  when  they  repudiated  this  great  principle  which  they 
had  declared  more  important  than  all  others.  Will  these 
old  Whig  leaders,  or  any  of  their  bolting  friends,  mention 
one  important  particular  in  which  the  Republicans  differ  in 
principle  from  the  Northern  Whigs  of  1844?  Or,  will 
they  show  why  the  epithets  "  sectional,"  "  radical,"  and  the 
like,  which  they  apply  so  profusely  to  the  opponents  of 
siuve  extension,  were  not  equally  applicable  to  themselves  ? 


DEMOCRATIC'  PARTY.  239 

Or,  will  they  give  the  public  a  reason  for  deserting1  those 
with  whom  they  labored  so  arduously  for  the  restriction  of 
Slavery,  and  uniting  with  their  opponents  who  have  ad 
vanced  from  their  former  pro-slavery  position  to  an  extreme 
not  then  dreamed  of,  and  which  is  nothing  less  than  the 
nationalizing  of  Slavery  ?  '  I  repeat  the  declaration,  that  tho 
party  which  proposes  to  prohibit  the  extension  of  Slavery  by 
acts  of  Congress,  is  THE  TRUE  CONSERVATIVE  PARTY  ;  and  they 
who  represent  this  party  as  having  introduced  into  its 
creed  or  platform  any  anti-slavery  principles  not  in  accord 
ance  with  those  maintained  by  our  most  eminent  statesmen, 
from  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Government,  down 
to  a  comparatively  recent  period,  either  know  not  whereof 
they  affirm,  or  are  guilty  of  an  attempt  to  deceive. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  principles  and  character  of  the 
Democratic  parry.  To  bring  them  more  distinctly  to  -view, 
I  will,  after  stating  a  few  facts  of  a  general  nature,  briefly 
recapitulate  some  of  the  more  prominent  acts  of  the  party 
which  have  marked  its  singular  career.  Its  leading  ob 
ject  has  been  power — POLITICAL  SUPREMACY.  For  power,  it 
has  not  only  trampled  upon  the  principles  of  the  political 
Fathers,  but  abandoned  its  own,  as  occasion  required. 
POWER,  not  political  reform,  was  the  object  of  its  organiza 
tion.  •  It  was  founded  in  corruption.  As  was  stated  in  the 
beginning  of  its  history,  Mr.  Adams'  administration  was  to 
be  "put  down  though  pure  as  the  angels,"  &c.  A  purer  or 
more  enlightened  administration  there  has  not  been.  Yet, 
by  misrepresentation,  fraud,  and  other  malign  influences,  it 
was  "  brought  down?7 

Next  to  its  false  accusation  of  Adams  and  Clay,  the  first 
great  fraud  of  this  party,  and  that  from  which  it  has  de-. 
xived  its  greatest  and  most  permanent  advantage,  is  the 
assumption  of  its  deceptive  title,  "  The  Democratic  Party." 
In  its  name  and  the  popularity  of  its  first  chosen  leader,  its 
strength  mainly  consisted.  With  little  experience  in  civil 
life,  the  prestige  of  the  well  earned  title  of  "  Hero  of  New 
Orleans,"  more  than  counterbalanced  that  deficiency. 
Though  he  had  been  extensively  denounced  as  a  "  Federal 
ist,"  and  a  "  Dictator,"  and  utterly  "  unfit  to  be  the  Presi 
dent  of  a  Republican  people,"  he  was  adopted  by  his  detrac 
tors,  and  christened  "  Democrat."  This  covered  all  his 


240  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

past  political  errors,  transformed  him  into  a  statesman  of 
fhe  highest  rank,  and  drew  to  his  support  that  large  class 
of  electors  who  are  incapable  of  distinguishing  between 
the  name  and  the  principle  of  Democracy.  Such  were  nine- 
tentlis  of  all  foreigners.  Having  from  experience  learned 
to  hate  tyrannical  governments,  and  sought  in  this  country 
the  blessings  of  free  institutions,  they  were  easily  inveigled 
into  the  Democratic  net  ;  the  name  being  presumed  to  indi 
cate  the  principles  of  the  party,  as  distinguished  from  those 
of  their  opponents,,  which,  it  was  no  less  natural  for  these 
uninformed  strangers  to  presume  to  be  Anti-Republican. 
The  number  of  foreigners  and  of  the  scarcely  less  ignorant 
of  our  native  citizens  thus  deceived,  has  at  all  times  ex 
ceeded  the  Democratic  majorities.  Add  to  these  the  large 
numbers  whom  the  leaders  have  always  managed  to  rally 
from  the  dram-shops  and  other  haunts  of  the  idle  and  the 
vicious,  and  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  predominance 
which  Sham-Democracy  has  maintained,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  brief  intervals,  for  more  than  thirty  years. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  the  composition  of  the  party.  It 
is  readily  conceded  that  a  large  portion  of  its  members  are 
men  of  intelligence,  high  moral  worth,  and  Christian  char 
acter.  But  it  will  hardly  be  denied  by  persons  of  ordinary 
observation,  that  more  than  two  out  of  every  three  of"  the 
more  uninformed,  the  intemperate  and  vicious  portion  of 
most  communities  belong  to  that  party.  Witness,  for  ex 
ample,  the  contrast  between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
parts  of  Illinois.  The  latter,  which  from  the  mental  and 
moral  darkness  so  generally  prevalent  "there,  has  acquired 
the  very  significant  sobriquet  of  "  Egypt,"  rolls  up  immense 
majorities  for  the  Democratic  ticket — nearly  equal,  in  some 
townships,  to  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  ;  while  the 
former,  whose  population  is  distinguished  for  its  high  civi 
lization,  and  its  moral  and  intellectual  culture,  gives  nearly 
as  large  majorities  against  the  Democracy.  Again,  con 
trast  tlie  more  rural,  or  more  sparsely  settled  counties, 
whose  electors  are  composed  mainij  oi'  the  industrious  la 
boring  classes,  and  where  churches  and  school-houses 
abound,  with  the  cities,  large  numbers  of  whose  population 
grow  up  in  the  hot-beds  of  vice  ;  and  it  will  generally  be 
found  that  the  Democratic  party  receives  its  greatest  sup- 


PRO-SIJLVERY   DEMOCRATIC    PAHTY.  241 

port  in  the  latter.  The  same,  or  even  a  greater  difference 
exists  between  the  Sixth  Ward  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
which  includes  that  famed  spot  called  "  Five  Points,"  and 
those  wards  of  the  same  city,  which  are  peopled  by  indus 
trious,  thrifty,  and  intelligent  mechanics  and  other  business 
men.  It  is  in  the  former,  and  others  most  nearly  resem 
bling*  it,  that  the  Democratic  party  usually  obtains  its 
majorities  of  tens  of  thousands  in  that  city. 

Jt  is  not  contended  that  correctness  of  political  sentiment 
in  every  community  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the  measure 
of  its  morality  and  general  intelligence.  But  if,  as  a  gen 
eral  rule,  the  virtuous  and  well  informed  portion  of  our  citi 
zens  are  not  more  likely  to  form  right  opinions  on  matters 
of  public  concern,  or  are  not  safer  depositaries  of  political 
power,  than  the  ignorant  and  vicious,  then  there  is  no  truth 
in  the  old  maxim,  that  "Virtue  and  intelligence  are  the 
only  safeguards  of  liberty  ;"  and  our  fathers  were  fools. 

The  expediency  of  laws  for  the  encouragement  and  pro 
tection  of  home  industry  against  foreign  competition,  was 
a  favorite  doctrine  with  those  who  instituted  our  Govern 
ment.  The  want  of  a  power  in  the  General  Government 
to  effect  this  object  was  the  immediate  cause  of  calling  the 
Convention  that  framed  the  Constitution,  in  which  this 
power  was  inserted.  And  the  first  act  of  a  general  nature, 
and  the  second  on  record  passed  under  the  Constitution, 
declares,  in  a  preamble,  one  of  its  objects  to  be,  "  the  en 
couragement  and  protection  of  domestic  manufactures,  by 
duties  on  goods,  wares  and  merchandises  imported."  The 
policy  of  protection  was  generally  admitted,  and  scarcely 
opposed  in  Congress,  except  by  representatives  of  the 
Northern  shipping  and  importing,  and  the  Southern  plant 
ing  interests,  until  after  the  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party  and  the  election  of  Gen.  Jackson.  Nor  was  the 
power  to  protect  for  the,  sake  of  protection  to  any  considerable 
extent  denied  :  and  not  until  years  after  the  formation  of 
this  party  was  protection  made  a  party  question. 

Although  laws  designed  more  or  less  for  protection  had 
previously  been  enacted,  protection  as  a  permanent  system 
adapted  to  a  state  of  peace,  was  not  commenced  until 
1810  ;  tho  wars  of  Europe,  from  the  time  of  the  organisa 
tion  of  our  present  Government  to  the  peace  of  1815,  hav- 


242  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

in£  furnished  a  market  for  surplus  American  bread-stuffs 
And  although  the  protection  afforded  to  most  articles  by 
the  first  lew  nets  was  inadequate,  the  policy  was  continued, 
and  its  efficiency  from  time  to  time  increased,  until  the 
reflection  of  Gen.  Jackson.  The  South  having  contributed, 
in  the  greater  proportion,  to  the  strength  of  the  Democratic 
party,  it  has  dictated  and  prescribed  the  policy  of  the  party, 
which  has  been  the  mere  instrument  or  agent  of  the  slave- 
bold<-rs,  through  which  they  have  given  law  to  the  nation. 
Democratic  protectionists,  one  after  another,  abandoned 
their  long  cherished  principles  which  they  hud  learned  from 
Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Madison  and  other  states 
men  of  their  time,  and  adopted  the  teachings  of  Southern 
free  traders  arid  nullifiers.  Even  the  President,  who  had 
carried  the  protective  principle  further  than  many  of  its 
advocates,  began  to  descend  from  the  high  position  he  had 
occupied,  and  continued  his  descent,  until  he  well  nigh 
readied  the  free  trade  level.  From  1833,  to  the  time  of  the 
secession,  excepting  the  four  years  from  1842  to  1846,  the 
industrial  interests  of  the  country  have  been  compelled  to 
struggle  against  the  unfriendly  legislation  dictated  by  the 
enemies  of  protection.  Within  this  period,  the  country  has 
been  several  times  visited  with  those  commercial  revul 
sions  and  financial  embarrassments,  attended  with  bank 
suspensions  and  the  general  depression  of  the  national  in 
dustry,  which  the  non-protective  policy  has  never  failed  to 
produce. 

To  serve  the  slaveholders  has  been  the  leading  object  of 
the  Democratic  party.  Whatever  they  have  demanded,  it 
has  yielded  ;  and  some  things  have  been  granted  unsoli 
cited.  Hence  Democracy  has  long  been  the  synonym  of 
Slavery. ;  and  the  Democratic  party  is  de  facto  the  Slavery 
party.  Let  us  see  whether  the  acts  of  Democrats  and  of 
the  Democratic  party  do  not  sustain  these  declarations. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  abandonment  of  the  protective 
policy,  just  mentioned,  was  a  concession  to  the  slavehold 
ers,  and  intended  as  such  ;  for  Mr.  Clay,  the  author  of  the 
measure,  himself  declared  one  object  of  it  to  be  the  pacifica- 
ticn  of  tJie.  nullificrs. 

In  1837,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  his  Inaugural  Address,  an 
nounced  his  predetermination  to  approve  no  bill  for  the 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  243 

abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  though 
he  stands  on  the  record  as  conceding1  to  Congress  the  con 
stitutional  right  to  do  so. 

For  many  years  the  people  petitioned  Congress  to  exer 
cise  this  power  ;  but  the  Democratic  party  in  Congress 
virtually  denied  the  right  of  petition,  and  suppressed  free 
dom  of  speech  in  Congress  on  the  subject  of  Slavery. 

Emigrants,  chiefly  from  the  Slave  States,  settled  in  Tex 
as  with  a  view  to  the  revolutionizing  of  that  Mexican  pro 
vince,  the  reestablishing  of  Slavery  therein,  and  its  annex 
ation  to  the  United  States.  Tho  Democratic  party,  the 
faithful  servant  of  the  slaveholders,  promptly  carried  the 
scheme  of  annexation  into  effect,  adding  to  its  territory,  as 
Mr.  Bentori  and  other  prominent  Democrats  declared,  many 
thousands  of  square  miles,  and  securing,  by  a  provision 
in  the  act,  the  right  to  divide  the  State  into  four  Slave 
States. 

Not  satisfied  with  this  enormous  plunder  from  a  weak 
nation  incapable  of  resistance  or  retaliation,  the  project 
was  conceived  of  extending*  our  territorial  acquisitions  in 
definitely  toward  the  Pacific.  The  President,  a  Democrat 
and  slaveholder,  concealing  his  iniquitous  design,  ordered 
our  amy  into  Mexican  territory  to  provoke  a  war.  The 
object  was  accomplished.  Hostilities  were  commenced, 
and  the  war  was  prosecuted  until  Mexico  was  glad  to 
make  peace  by  the  relinquishment  of  a  large  portion  of  her 
territory,  a  part  of  which  has  been  consigned  to  Slavery. 
It  was  in  view  of  this  acquisition  that  Mr.  Wilnsot  moved 
his  proviso  to  keep  Slavery  out  of  the  territory  that  might 
be  acquired.  But  it  was  rejected  by  the  Democratic  party 
in  Congress.  Arid  when,  in  1850,  governments  were  to  be 
instituted  for  the  different  portions  of  this  territory,  Cali 
fornia  applied  for  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union,  the 
Democratic  party  refused  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
Free  State,  unless  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  left  open  to 
Slavery,  and  unless  to  this  concession  were  added  an  en 
actment  that  Slavery  should  not  be  abolished  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  ;  arid  another  providing  more  effectually 
for  the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves.  With  all  these  advan 
tages,  the  slaveholders,  it  was  natural  to  suppose,  would 
be  contented  ;  and  for  aught  that  appeared,  they  were  con- 


244  DEMOCRATIC    MIRIIOR. 

tented  ;  for  it  was  understood,  in  1850,  that  the  Slavery 
question  should  not  be  again  agitated  in  Congress. 

But,  ai'icr  a  brief  period  of  peace,  (a  little  more  than 
three  yrurs,)  a  JNorthern  Senator,  whose  claims  to  the 
Presidency,  presented  in  National  Convention,  had  not 
been  duly' recognized,  in  order  to  strengthen  these  claims, 
unsolicited,  so  far  as  the  record  shows,  tenders  to  the  slave 
holders  his  efforts  to  effect  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  by  which  alone  Slavery  had  for  more  than  thirty 
years  been  kept  within  a  certain  boundary  line.  Southern 
members  of  Congress  had,  in  the  debates  on  the  measures 
of  1860,  which  were  to  settle  this  question  for  all  time,  ad 
mitted  the  sacredness  and  binding  force  of  that  Compro 
mise,  which  was  not  to  be  disturbed.  And  Mr.  Douglas 
himself  had  a  few  years  previously  said,  in  a  public  speech  : 
"  It  has  received  the  sanction  of  all  parties  in  every  section 
of  the  Union.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  hearts  of  all  patri 
otic  men  who  desired  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  bless 
ings  of  our  glorious  Union.  .  .  .  All  the  evidences  of 
public  opinion  seem  to  indicate  that  this  Compromise  has 
become  canonized  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  as 
a  sacred  thing,  which  110  ruthless  hand  would  le  reckless  enough  to 
disturb."  After  so  strong  an  asseveration,  what  motive  but 
that  to  which  the  act  has  just  been  ascribed,  could  havo 
impelled  the  "  ruthless  hand"  of  that  Senator  .to  the  perpe 
tration  of  the  '*  reckless"  deed  ?  A  different  motive,  how 
ever,  must  be  invented.  It  now  occurs  to  the  Senator  that 
the  restrictive  act  is  unconstitutional,  and  that,  by  the 
measures  of  1850,  it  has  been  rendered  "inoperative  and 
void."  The  slaveholders,  though  even  they  had  not  been 
"  reckless  enough"  to  ask  such  a  favor,  would  not  refuse 
what  the  Democratic  party,  "  with  superserviceable 
liberality,"  (as  one  aptly  expresses  it,)  "  forced  on  their 
acceptance." 

The  efforts  of  the  party  to  force  Slavery  into  Kansas,  are 
still  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  the  reader.  So  successful  were 
these  efforts,  that  .Kansas  was  kept  out  of  the  Union  until  the 
Senators  from  the  seceding  States  had  retired,  and  left  in  tho 
Semite  a  Republican  majority. 

Nor  is  this  all.  To  secure  entire  and  perpetual  supremacy 
to  the  Slave  Power,  a  decree  was  procured  IVoni  a  party  Ju 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  245 

diciary,  declaring  that  slaveholders  have  a  right,  under  the 
Constitution,  to  take  their  slaves  into  every  Territory  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  hold  them  there,  any  law  of  the  Terri 
torial  Legislature  or  of  Congress  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing. 

After  so  long  a  term  of  faithful  service  rendered  the  slave 
holders  by  the  Democratic  party,  and  with  such  apparent  alac- 
•rity  ;  and  after  so  many  expressions  of  sympathy  from  the 
Northern  branch  of  the  party  for  the  "  abused  South ;"  the 
slaveholders  had  no  reason  to  apprehend  from  their  Northern 
allies  any  opposition  to  their  meditated  secession.  By  none 
had  more  been  done  to  encourage  them  in  their  wicked  pur 
pose,  than  by  the  last  two  Presidents.  In  nearly  every  An 
nual  Message,  they  had  severely  belabored  those  who  resisted 
the  aggressions  of  the  Slave  Power,  or  questioned  its  right  to 
appropriate  all  the  national  territory,  but  administered  not  the 
slightest  rebuke  to  their  Southern  friends. 

Nor  was  the  zeal  of  Northern  champions  for  "Southern  rights" 
materially  abated  by  the  Secession.  Only  two  or  three  weeks 
after  South  Carolina  had  formally  seceded  from  the  Union, 
and  was  fortifying  herself  by  taking  possession  of  the  national 
forts  and  the  custom-house  and  the  revenue  in  and  about 
Charleston,  a  great  Democratic  Mass  Convention  was  held  in 
the  city  of  New  Yoik  to  forestall  coercive  measures  to  put 
down  the  Rebellion.  The  Convention  was  attended  by  lead 
ing  Democrats,  and  by  them  addressed  in  language  berittiug 
actual  Secessionists. 

Two  weeks  later,  (Jan.  31,  18C1,)  in  an  early  stage  of  the 
Secession,  a  large  Democratic  State  Convention  was  held  in 
the  city  of  Albany.  Ex-Governor  (now  Governor)  Seymour, 
whose  political  orthodoxy  is  universally  acknowledged  by  his 
party,  addressed  the  Convention  in  a  speech,  then  enthusias 
tically  applauded,  and  republished  by  the  State  Committee  a^ 
a  campaign  electioneering  document  in  1862,  when  he  was 
again  a  candidate  for  Governor.  He  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  The  condition  of  our  affairs  forces  upon  us  the  alternative 
of  compromise  or  civil  war.  Let  us  contemplate  the  latter 
alternative.  We  are  advised  by  the  conservative  States  of 
Virginia  and  Kentucky,  that  if  force  is  to  be  used,  it  must 
be  exerted  against  the  united  South.  It  would  be  an  act  of 
folly  and  madness,  i  i  entering  upon  this  contest,  to  underrate 


246  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

our  opponents,  and  thus  subject  ourselves  to  the  disgrace  of 
defeat  in  an  inglorious  warfare.  Let  us  als)  see  if  successful 
coercion,  by  the  North  is  less  revolutionary  than  successful 
secession  by  the  South.  Shall  we  prevent  revolution  by  being 
foremost  in  overthrowing  the  principles  of  our  Government, 
and  all  that  makes  it  valuable  to  our  people,  and  distinguishes 
it  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  Upon  whom  are  we  to 
wage  war  ?  Our  own  countrymen,  whose  white  population  is 
three-fold  that  of  the  whole  country  in  the  time  of  the  Revo 
lution.  Their  courage  has  never  been  questioned  in  any  con 
test  in  which  we  have  been  engaged.  They  battled  by  our 
side  with  equal  valor  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  in  the 
last  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  in  the  Mexican  conflict. 
Virginia  sent  her  sons  under  the  command  of  Washington  to 
the  relief  of  beleaguered  Boston.  Alone,  the  South  defeated 
the  last  and  most  desperate  effort  of  BritUh  power  to  divide 
our  country,  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  From  the  days  of 
Washington  till  this  ti-ne  they  have  furnished  the  full  propor 
tion  of  soldiers  for  the  iield,  of  statesmen  for  the  cabinet,  and 
of  wise  and  patriotic  Senators  for  our  Legislative  halls. 

"  It  is  onlv  bigoted  ignorance  that  denies  the  equality  of 
their  public  men  to  those  of  the  North.  .To  assume  that  our 
brethren  in  fifteen  States  lack  the  capacity  to  understand,  and 
the  ability  to  protect  their  own  interests,  is  to  assume  that 
our  Government  is  a  failure,  and  ought  to  be  overturned.  It 
is  to  declare  that  nearly  one-half  of  our  people  are  incapable 
of  self-government  *  *  * 

"  In  what  way  is  this  warfare  to  be  conducted  ?  None 
have  been  mad  enough  to  propose  to  muster  armies  to  occupy 
their  territory.  Great  Britain  tried  that  in  the  Revolution, 
when  the  population  of  the  South  was  less  than  2,000,000. 
She  attempted  invasion  again  in  the  late  war,  when  their 
numbers  were  less  than  3,500,000.  *  *  * 

"  But  some  have  suggested  with  complacent  air,  that  the 
South  could  easily  be  subjugated  by  blockading  their  ports  with 
a  few  ships  of  war.  *  But  assuming  the  success  of 

this  measure,  who  are  to  be  the  sufferers  ?  Are  we  waging 
war  upon  the  South,  or  upon  the  North  ?  Upon  the  Southern 
planter,  or  upon  the  Northern  merchant,  manufacturer,  and 
mechanic  ?  *  *  * 

"But  let  us  leave  these  pecuniary  considerations  for  others 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  247 

more  weighty  with  every  patriot.  Upon  what  field  shall  this 
contest  be  waged  '?  Upon  what  spot  shall  Americans  shed 
American  blood  ?  Where,  on  this  broad  continent,  shall  we 
find  the  arena  where  every  association  and  memory  of  the  past 
will  not  forbid  this  fratricidal  contest  ?  .  Or,  when  unnatural 
war  shall  have  brought  upon  our  people  its  ruin,  and  upon  our 
nation  its  shame,  to  what  ground  shall  we  be  brought  at  last  ? 
To  that  we  should  have  accepted  at  the  outset " 

What  is  there  in  all  this  but  an  encomium  on  Southern  pa 
triotism,  Southern  valor,  Southern  statesmanship,  and  Southern 
invincibility,  on  the  one  hand  ;  while  on  the  other,  the  attempt 
to  suppress  the  Rebellion  would  be  an  "inglorious  warfare;" 
in  which  success  would  be  no  less  revolutionary  than  Seces 
sion.  To  propose  to  muster  armies  to  occupy  their  territory 
would  be  "madness;"  and  to  defend  the  Union  against  its 
enemies,  would  be  to  incur  the  guilt  and  the  "  shame"  of 
waging  an  "  unnatural  war,"  and  of  engaging  in  a  "  fratricidal 
contest" 

The  reader  will  note  particularly  the  concluding  sentence 
of  the  above  extracts  from  the  Governor's  speech,  in  answer 
to  ihe  question,  To  what  ground  shall  we  be  brought  at  last? 
"  To  that  ive  should  have  accepted  at  the  outset."  In  other 
words,  after  having  waged  an  "  unnatural,"  a  "  fratricidal,"  an 
"  inglorious,"  and  an  unsuccessful  war  upon  the  South,  we 
shall  be  compelled  to  make  terms  with  the  slaveholders  by  a 
surrender  of  the  rights  of  free  speech,  free  labor,  all  the  free 
territory  acquired  and  to  be  .acquired,  and  the  right  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  to  govern.  Will  the  reader  who  has 
read  the  secession  speeches  of  Davis,  and  Benjamin,  and  Iver- 
son,  and  Breckinridge,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  as 
they  were  about  taking  leave  of  that  body,  point  out  any  es 
sential  difference  between  them  and  the  paragraphs  quoted 
from  the  speech  of  this  "  Northern  man  with  Southern  princi 
ples  ?"  True,  he  did  not — he  durst  not — advocate  the  right 
of  Secession ;  but  the  language  is  purely  Southern,  and  the 
speech  would  find  an  appropriate  place  among,  the  reported 
speeches  of  these  secessionists  in  Congress. 

Another  popular  Democratic  speaker,  James  S.  Thayer,  in 
the  same  Convention,  amid  general  applause,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  We  can,  at  least,  by  discussion,  enlighten,  settle,  and  con 
centrate  the  public  sentiment  in  the  State  of  New  York  upon. 


248  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

this  question,  and  save  it  from  that  fearful  current  that  cir- 
cnitously,  but  certainly,  sweeps  madly  on  through  the  narrow 
gorge  of  '  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,'  to  the  shoreless  ocenn 
of  civil  war.  [Cheers.]  Against  this,  under  all  circumstan 
ces,  in  every  flace  and  form,  we  must  now,  and  at  all  times, 
oppose  a  resolute  and  unfaltering  resistance.  The  public 
mind  will  bear  the  avowal,  and  let  us  make  it — that  if  a  rev 
olution  of  force  is  to  begin,  it  shall  be  inaugurated  at  home. 
[Cheers.]  And  if  the  incoming  administration  shall  attempt 
to  carry  out  the  line  of  policy  that  has  been  foreshadowed,  we 
announce  that  when  the  hand  of  Black  Republican ism  turns 
to  blood -red,  and  seeks  from  the  fragments  of  the  Constitution 
to  construct  a  scaffold  ing  for  coercion — another  name  for  exe 
cution — we  will  reverse  the  order  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  save  the  blood  of  the  people  by  making  those  who  would 
inaugurate  a  reign  of  terror  the  first  victims  of  a  national 
guillotine.  [Enthusiastic  applause.] 

"  The  Democratic  and  Union  party  at  the  North  made  the 
issue  at  the  last  election  with  the  Republican  party,  that  in 
the  event  of  their  success,  and  the  establishment  of  their  policy, 
the  Southern  States  not  only  would  go  out  of  the  Union,  but 
would  have  adequate  cause  fur  doing  so.  [Applause  ] 

"  This  is  the  position  I  took  with  813,000  voters  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  on  the  Cth  of  November  last.  I  «hall  not 
recede  from  it,  having  admitted  that,  in  a  certain  contingency, 
the  Slave  States  would  have  adequate  cause  for  Sfj)firation  I 
Now  that  the  contingency  has  happened,  I  shall  not  withdraw 
that  admission  because  they  have  been  unwise  or  unreason 
able  in  the  '  time,  mode,  and  measure  of  redress.'  [Applause.] 

"  What  person,  what  right  of  property,  what  domestic  right 
or  privilege,  what  franchise,  what  security  to  life  or  liberty  is 
infringed  by  the  rupture  of  the  Federal  relation  between  the 
States?  [Applause.] 

"But  it  is  announced  that  the  Republican  administration 
will  enforce  the  laws  against  and  in  all  the  seceding  States. 
A  nice  discrimination  must  be  made  in  the  performance  of  this 
duty,  not  a  hair's  breadth  outside  of  the  mark.  You  remem 
ber  the  story  of  William  Tell,  who,  when  the  condition  WAS 
imposed  upon  him  to  shoot  an  apple  from  the  head  of  his  own 
child,  after  he  had  performed  the  task,  let  fall  an  arrow.  '  For 
what  is  that?'  said  Gesler.  To  'kill  thee,  tyrant,  had  I  blam 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  249 

my  boy  !'  [Cheers.]  Let  on?,  arrow  winged  by  the  Federal 
how  strike  the.  heart  of  an  American  citizen,  and  who  can 
number  the  avenging  dart*  that  will  cloud  the  heavens  in  the 
conflict  that  will  ensue?  [Prolonged  applause.]  What, 
then,  is  theT  duty  of  the  State  of  New  York  ?  What  shall  we 
say  to  the  people  when  we  come  to  meet  this  state  of  facts  V 
That  the  Union  must  be  preserved.  But  if  this  can  not  he, 
what  then  ?  PEACEABLE  SEPARATION.  [Applause.]" 

Here  is  an  effusion  of  pure,  unalloyed  Secessionist!!,  without 
attempt  at  concealment,  indorsed  by  the  chosen  representa 
tives  of  the  Democracy  of  the  State. 

When  the  proceedings  of  this  Albany  Tweddle  Hall  Con 
vention  reached  Washington,  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  member  of 
Congress  from  South  Carolina,  an  avowed  Disunionist,  exult- 
ingly  proclaimed :  "  There  ivi.ll  be  more  men  in  Neiv  York 
alone  to  fight  for  us  than  the  whole  North  can  put  doivn  /" 
So  testifies  Hun.  R.  Conkling,  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Utica  District,  N.  Y. 

A  meeting  was  held  about  the  same  time  in  Philadelphia, 
in  which  Pennsylvania  Democracy  gave  vent  to  the  same 
treasonable  sentiments.  One  of  the  resolutions  adopted  at 
the  meeting  declares, 

"That  in  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  Democracy  of 
Philadelphia,  and,  so  far  as  we  know  it,  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union  by  the  separation  of  the  whole  South 
— a  result  we  shall  most  sincerely  lament — may  release  the 
Commonwealth,  to  a  large  extent,  from  the  bonds  which  now 
connect  her  with  the  Confederacy,  except  so  far  as  for  tempo 
rary  convenience  she  chooses  to  submit  to  them,  and  would 
authorize  and  require  her  citizens,  through  a  Convention  to 
be  assembled  for  that  purpose,  to  determine  with  whom  her 
lot  should  be  cast ;  whether  with  the -North  and  East,  whose 
fanaticism  has  2^'^cipitated  this  misery  upon  us,  or  our  bre 
thren  of  the  South,  whose  wrongs  we  feel  as  our  own  ;  or 
whether  Pennsylvania  should  stand  by  herself,  as  a  distinct 
community,  ready  when  occasion  offers  to  bind  together  the 
broken  Union,  and  resume  her  place  of  loyalty  and  devotion." 

And  more  of  the  same  kind,  had  we  room,  could  be  given 
from  leading  Democrats  and  presses  in  that  State. 

From  these  and  a  thousand  other  expressions  of  Northern 
eentiment,  condemning  in  advance  a  resort  to  coercive  mea- 


250  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

sures  to  suppress  the  Rebellion,  had  not  the  South  reason  to 
expect  a  divided  North,  rendering  the  incoming  administra 
tion  powerless  against  the  traitors  ? 

War  at  length  came.  Sumter  fell  by  the  hands  of  the 
Rebels.  The  indignation  of  the  North  was  aroused.  Party 
seemed  to  be  for  a  while  forgotten.  Men  of  all  parties  contribu 
ted  liberally  of  their  means  for  the  defense  of  the  nation.  And 
among  the  evidences  of  the  encouragement  which  had  been 
given  to  the  Rebellion  by  these  declarations  of  Northern 
Democratic  Conventions  and  presses  against  coercion,  is  the 
surprise  expressed  by  Rebels  on  learning  the  unanimity  of  the 
North  in  providing  for  the  defense  of  the  Union.  Northern 
men  who  were  at  that  time  in  the  South,  state,  that  the  intel 
ligence  of  the  Union  war  meetings  here,  after  the  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter,  struck  the  Rebel  leaders  with  astonishment.  Thev 
had  been  led  to  hope  that  their  Northern  friends  would  crip 
ple  the  arm  of  the  administration  if  raised  to  strike  at  the 
Rebellion.  Without  such  expectation,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  ihe  Secession,  if  any  had  occurred,  would  have  been  con 
fined  to  two  or  three  States — perhaps,  as  in  1832,  to  South 
Carolina  alone. 

It  was  hoped,  for  a  time,  that  party  warfare  would  be  sus 
pended  until  the  war  fjr  the  Union  should  be  successfully 
closed.  But  this  hope  was  soon  disappointed.  After  a  few 
professions  of  loyalty — a  few  expressions  of  displeasure  or  re 
gret  at  the  conduct  of  their  "  Southern  brethren"  in  not  "sub 
mitting  to  be  governed  by  such  a  Chief  Magistrate"  as  they 
were  not  pleased  to  vote  for  j  the  forces  of  the  party  were 
again  rallied,  and  their  batteries  directed  against  the  adminis 
tration.  An  offensive  war  has  been  kept  up,  without  inter 
mission,  for  the  last  two  years,  during  which  time  ten  pon 
derous  blows  have  been  inflicted,  with  deadly  intent,  upon  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  his  associates  in  the  Government,  for  every  gen 
tle  rap  administered  to  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  Rebel  confed 
erates. 

Scarcely  had  the  excitement  caused  by  the  capture  of 
Sumtev  subsided,  before  the  Democrats  of  Maine,  in  State 
Convention, 

"Resolved,  That  the  present  civil  war  which  Abraham  Lin 
coln  is  waging  upon  sovereign  States,  is  alike  unconstitutional, 
inhuman,  and  unjust,  and,  unless  speedily  checked,  must  end 


PRO-SLAVERY   DEMOCRATIC    TARTY.  251 

in  the  complete  overthrow  of  liberty,  and  in  the  establishment 
of  a  military  despotism." 

Not  having  at  hand  the  entire  proceedings  of  this  Conven 
tion,  I  can  riot  say  whether  any  resolution  was  adopted  ex 
pressing  an  opinion  of  "  the  present  civil  war  which  Jefferson 
Davis  is  waging  upon  sovereign  States."  The  participators 
in  a  Convention  within  the  borders  of  his  "Confederacy,"  who 
should  pass  the  above  resolution  with  the  name  of  Jefferson 
Davis  substituted  for  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  would  learn, 
by  sad  experience,  that  there  are  on  that  side  of  the  line,  an 
"  inhumanity/1  an  "injustice,"  and  a  "despotism,"  which  dif 
fer  very  materially  from  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
an  administration  at  home,  which  leaves  them  in  the  full  en 
joyment  of  the  abused  constitutional  right  of  freedom  of 
speech  ! 

What  but  the  same  spirit  of  disloyalty  induced  the  nomina 
tion  of  the  notorious  Vallandigham  as  the  Democratic  candi 
date  for  Governor  of  Ohio  ?  Self-respect  may  deter  some 
Democrats  from  giving  him  their  votes  ;  but  it  is  believed  that, 
if  no  other  Democratic  candidate  should  be  nominated,  he 
will  be  voted  for  by  the  great  body  of  his  party. 

Modern  Democracy  is  of  the  same  character  in  all  parts 
of  the  Union.  Governor  Seymour,  of  New  York,  from 
whose  Tweddle  Hall  speech  we  have  quoted,  is  not  the  only 
Governor  Seymour  who  is  skilled  in  the  use  of  Southern 
language.  Connecticut  furnishes  in  her  Ex-Governor  Sey 
mour,  a  man  whose  proficiency  in  that  indispensable  acqui 
sition  of  a  genuine  Northern  Democrat — the  slaveholders' 
dialect — is  scarcely  inferior  to  that  .of  his  distinguished 
neighbor  of  the  Empire  State.  While  a  candidate  for  Gov 
ernor  in  1862,  he  held  correspondence  with  one  Captain 
Gladding,  a  Rebel  officer  paroled  and  sent  from  the  city  of 
New  York  to  Hilton  Head  for  exchange,  but  arrested  there 
as  a  Confederate  sp3r,  upon  whose  person  was  found  a  let 
ter  from  this  Democratic  candidate  for  Chief  Magistrate  of 
a  Free  State,  in  which  he  writes  thus  to  his  Southern 
friend  : 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  Your  obliging  favor  of  the  28th  inst.  [July] 
has  been  received  and  read  with  pleasure.  Though  you 
state  that  you  are  a  stranger  to  me,  I  feel  myself  already 
introduced  to  you  by  th<i  friendly  words  breathed  through 


252  DEMOCRATIC    MIRKOR. 

your  letter.  Since  the  appearance  of  a  letter  of  mine,  to 
which  you  so  kindly  allude,  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of 
learning  from  quite  a  number  of  persons,  at  home  and 
abroad,  that  they  approve  of  its  contents.  *  *  * 

"  Your  allusion  to  'constitutional  liberty*  suggests  pain 
ful  reflections.  Since  the  inauguration  of  tin's  war,  the  men 
in  power  at  Washington  have  been  robbing  us  of  our 
rights.  The  great  safeguards  of  the  citizen,  protecting 
him  against  illegal  arrests  and  false  imprisonments, 

have    been    struck    down    by  ignorant  or  wicked    rulers. 

*     *     *     * 

"  I  abhor  the  whole  scheme  of  Southern  invasion,  with  all 
its  horrible  consequences  of  rapine  and  plunder.  You  can 
not  help  but  see,  Sir,  what  thousands  of  us  are  beginning 
to  see,  that  there  can  be  no  Union  got  in  this  way.  The 
war  might  have  been  avoided,  arid  the  Union  saved.  And 
it  would  have  been  avoided  but  for  a  fanatic  set  of  men  be 
sieging  the  President,  and  who  wanted  blood  and  plunder. 
They  have  got  both,  and  humanity  weeps  over  the  wrecks 
of  body  and  soul.  Those  who  drive  the  car  of  war  at  this 
time,  have  no  more  idea  of  saving  the  Union  by  their  bloody 
sacrifices  of  this  sort,  than  they  have  of  changing  the  course 
of  nature.  Still  they  go  on.  *  *  * 

"  Depend  upon  it,  Heaven  will  frown  on  such  a  cause  as 
this  ;  it  can  not  and  will  not  come  to  good.  Where  you 
find  me,  in  lamenting  or  exposing  this  iniquity,  you  will 
find  me  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  I  would  rather  have  the 
good  opinion  of  fellow-citizens  who,  like  yourself,  have 
given  me  their  sympathy  in  a  time  of  some  considerable 
trial  of  one's  faith,  than  to  be  first  among  the  slayers  qf  kin 
dred,  or  wear  the  bloody  laurels  they  may  gather  in  a  fra 
tricidal  war.  I  doubt  if  the  Union  can  be  restored  at  all — 
things  have  gone  so  far  now  that  the  only  possible  chance 
will  be  by  the  adoption  of  a  Christian  policy  very  different 
from  that  which  prevails  at  Washington  at  the  present 
time. 

"  Though  I  only  know  you,  Sir,  by  your  very  kind  letter, 
I  shall  not  soon  forget  that  it  was  written,  or  by  whom. 

"Accept,  I  pray  you,  my  best  wishes,  and  believe  me, 
dear  Sir,  respectfully  yours." 

Is  it  diflicult  to  tell  whether  Loyalists  or  llcbcls   share 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  253 

more  largely  in  the  sympathies  of  the  writer  of  this  letter  ? 
Its  importance  would  be  no  equivalent  for  the  space  it  oc 
cupies,  but  for  the  fact  that  its  author  is  the  representative 
of  the  Democracy  of  his" State.  The  same  sentiments  were 
reiterated  by  him  in  public  speeches  during  the  cam 
paign,  and  indorsed  by  a  full  party  vote  at  the  ensuing 
election. 

But  it  is  needless  to  adduce  additional  evidence  to  prove 
the  prevalence  of  a  disloyal  spirit  among  Democrats.  The 
fact  is  apparent  to  every  person  of  ordinary  discernment 
who  has  any  considerable  acquaintance  with  men  of  that 
party. 

"  To  save  the  Union"  has  been  with  them  professedly  an 
object  of  the  deepest  solicitude.  For  this  purpose,  the  con 
stitutional  rights  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  pi  ess 
have  been  denied  ;  and  Southern  laws,  in  direct  violation 
of  the  Constitution,  the  mobbing  and  flogging  and  hanging 
of  peaceable  Northern  men  without  legal  trial  : — all  must 
be  endured  without  complaint,  lest  the  slaveholders  should 
break  the  Union  into  pieces.  Now,  when  the  long  medi 
tated  work  of  destruction  is  in  progress,  the  Executive  can 
not  exercise  a  power,  or  perform  an  act,  for  which  there  is 
not  an  express  "  thus  saith  the  Constitution,"  even  to  save 
the  naticiCs  life,  without  throwing  these  sensitive  Democrats 
into  spasms  from  fear  that  a  line  or  a  letter  of  the  Consti 
tution  has  been  violated.  The  arrest  and  confinement  of 
men  under  the  strongest  suspicions  of  being  spies  and  trai 
tors,  arid  refusing  to  allow  them,  under  bail,  to  run  at  large 
while  awaiting  trial  at  some  distant  day,  with  opportunity 
to  continue  their  services  to  the  Rebels,  have  been  con 
demned  as  an  unconstitutional  suspension  of  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  as  tyrannical  in  the  ex 
treme.  And  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  which  is  de 
signed  to  deprive  the  Rebels  of  one  of  their  principal 
means  of  carrying  on  the  war  against  the  Union,  is  also, 
in  their  view,  a  shocking  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and 
apparently  as  distasteful  to  them  as  to  the  Confederate 
Government  itself. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  weaken  the  Government  by 
misrepresentation  and  falsehood.  The  .Democratic  presses  and 
politicians  call  the  war  an  "  abolition  war,"  and  declare  it  to 


254  DEMOCRATIC    MIHROR. 

be  waged  for  the  benefit  of  the  negro.  They  charge  Mr,  Lin 
coln  with  having,  by  issuing  the  Proclamation,  violated  the 
Constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  States,  which,  in  his  Inau- 
gural,  he  had  pledged  himself  to  maintain.  They  have  repre 
sented  the  soldiers  as  feeling  themselves  to  have  been  duped 
in  being  forced  to  fight  to  free  the  negroes,  and  as  being  in 
dignant  at  their  having  been  induced  to  enlist  under  false  pre 
tenses.  Various  other  arts  and  devices  have  been  resorted 
to  in  order  to  disaflect  soldiers  in  the  service,  and  to  prevent 
others  from  enlisting,  and  thus  to  weaken  the  army. 

Resolutions  were  introduced  into  the  Democratic  Legisla 
ture  of  Illinois,  which  '*  condemn  and  denounce  the  flagrant 
usurpations  of  the  Administration  ;"  charge  the  Government 
with  the  intention  of  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the 
Confederacy  ;  declaring  that  the  great  North- West  shall  never 
be  separated  from  the  Southern  States  of  the  Mississippi  Val 
ley;  and,  among  other  things,  recommended  an  armistice,  or 
suspension  of  hostilities  professedly  to  enable  the  contending 
parties  to  meet  in  Convention  to  "  reason  "  each  other  into 
terms  of  peace  !  which  would  have  given  the  Rebels — which 
they  just  then  much  needed — time  to  strengthen  themselves 
for  a  renewal  of  the  conflict.  Similar  resolutions  were  intro 
duced  in  the  Legislature  of  Indiana.  But  while  the  resolu 
tions  were  pending  in  these  Legislatures,  expressions  of  indig 
nation  came  thundering  up  the  Mississippi  from  the  soldiers 
from  these  States  in  the  South-Western  army;  and  remon 
strances  against  thc'r  adoption  were  received,  it  is  said;  from 
leading  Democrats  in  other  States,  who  began  to  be  alarmed 
at  their  effect  upon  the  party  :  and  thus  their  passage  was 
prevented.  Their  suppression,  however,  could  not  conceal  the 
sympathy  of  their  authors  for  their  "  Southern  biethren,"  nor 
the  object  of  their  introduction. 

While  our  armies  were  wholly  dependent  upon  volunteers, 
Democrats  discouraged  enlistments.  Since  the  passage  of  the 
law  for  enrolling  and  drafting,  efforts  are  making  in  various 
ways — even  n:ob  violence  has  been  resorted  to — to  prevent 
the  Draft  This  opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  law  has 
been  greatly  encouraged  by  Democrats  in  high  places,  who 
have  endeavored  to  render  the  law  odious  by  pronouncing  it 
unconstitutional  and  oppressive. 

Nor  does  the   late  destructive  and  sanguinary  insurrection 


PRO-SLAVERY   DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.  255 

in  the  City  of  New  York  fail  to  furnish  evidence  of  Northern 
sympathy  and  cooperation  with  the  traitors.  Facts  have  been 
disclosed  which  justify  the  belief,  that  the  instigators  of  this 
grand  riot,  and  those  who  participated  in  it,  were  in  the  in 
terest  of  the  South,  and  that  their  object  was  to  spread  the 
Rebellion  into  the  Free  States.  And  it  is  believed,  that,  if 
our  army  had  been  defeated  at  Gettysburg,  the  Rebel  flag1 
would  have  been  raised  in  New  York,  as  the  beginning  of  a 
Northern  Rebellion. 

On  the  night  before  the  4th  of  July,  there  was  extensively 
circulated  through  the  city,  a  Manifesto,  denouncing  the  G 


OV' 


eminent  in  the  bitterest  terms;  declaring  "the  Southern 
people"  to  be  justly  "  righting  for  their  liberties,"  and  that  "a 
Confederate  army,  whether  on  our  borders  or  in  our  midst,  we 
would  hail  as  friends  and  deliverers,'7  charging  "  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  the  men  of  his  council  with  a  violation  of  their 
oaths,  the  Constitution,  and  the  laws,  destroying  the  Union," 
&c.,  &c.  This  was  issued  at  the  time  of  the  battle  at  Gettys 
burg.  The  wild  and  desperate  adventure  of  Lee  so  far  JS'orth, 
countenances  the  idea  that  it  had  reference  to  some  Northern 
movement.  The  breaking  out  of  a  formidable  insurrection 
which  should  divert  the  attention  of  the  Government  and  a 
portion  of  our  military  strength  to  the  North,  might  encourage 
Lee  to  march  upon  Washington,  or  some  other  important 
place.  This  outbreak  had  been  threatened  from  the  South 
months  before  it  occurred.  The  most  notorious  leader  was  a 
Virginian,  with  whom  other  Southerners  were  associated. 
Men  in  the  city  openly  rejoiced  at  the  escape  of  Lee  and  his 
army,  and  at  his  having  "  out-generaled  Meade."  Others  were 
heard  to  laud  Fernando  Wood  and  Governor  Seymour,  and  to 
cheer  Jeff.  Davis.  The  Draft,  which  was  in  pi  ogress,  was 
used  to  excite  the  people ;  but  it  was  probably  the  least  of  the 
motives  to  the  riot.  While  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum  was 
burning,  a  carriage  drove  up  and  two  men  jumped  out,  who 
urged  on  the  mob  in  the  work  of  destruction.  The  object  of 
these  men  may  be  conjectured  from  a  remark  of  one  of  the 
rioters,  that  this  would  compensate  Jeff".  Davis  for  the  loss  of 
Vicksburg  ! 

Now,  in  all  this  wanton  destruction  of  property  to  the 
amount  of  millions,  in  the  murders  committed,  in  the  vile  im 
precations  of  vengeance  upon  the  "  niggers,"  the  "  abolition- 


256  DEMOCRATIC    MIRROR. 

iats,"  the  President,  and  others,  and  in  the  plaudits  bestowed 
upon  Seymour,  Wood,  and  Davis,  how  many  are  supposed  to 
have  participated  who  were  not  politically  connected  with  the 
Democratic  party,  or  who  would  not  vote  for  either  of  these 
men  as  the  next  President,  if  he  should  receive  a  regular  party 


nomination 


The  Draft  was  suspended  for  several  weeks.  Gen.  Dix 
having  been  appointed  to  the  Department  of  the  East,  he 
addressed  to  Guv.  Seymour  a  letter  inquiring-  whether  the 
military  power  of  the  State  might  be  relied  on  to  enforce 
the  execution  of  the  law  in  case  of  resistance  to  it,  and  ex 
pressing  his  reluctance  to  call  on  the  War  Department  for 
troops  which  were  needed  in  the  army.  Instead  of  giving 
a  direct  affirmative  answer,  he  informs  the  General  that  he 
had  written  to  the  President,  whose  answer,  he  believed, 
would  relieve  both  "  from  the  painfal  questions  growing 
out  of  the  enforcement  of  the  Conscription  law  ;"  and  that 
after  receiving  the  President's  answeiyhe  would  write  the 
General  again.  General  Dix,  in  his  reply,  expresses  his 
regret  that  the  Governor  had  characterized  the  act  as  the 
"  Conscription  law,"  which,  he  says,  is  "  a  phrase  borrowed 
from  a  foreign  system  of  enrollment,  with  odious  features, 
from  which  ours  is  wholly  free,  and  originally  applied  to 
the  law  in  question  by  those  who  desire  to  bring  it  into  re 
proach  and  defeat  its  execution." 

Nut  receiving  the  promised  answer  in  due  season,  Gen. 
D.'x  applied  to  the  War  Department  for  the  necessary  force, 
which  was  promptly  furnished.  Three  days  after  the  troops 
had  been  ordered,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Governor, 
expressing  his  regret  that  the  President  had  declined  to 
comply  with  his  request  to  give  up  the  Draft,  and  to  con 
tinue  to  rely  on  voluntary  enlistments  !  Could  the  Gov 
ernor  have  believed  that  the  President  would  comply  with 
such  a  request  ?  What,  then,  was  his  object  in  causing 
delay  ?  The  reason  assigned  was,  that  he  had  received  no 
notice  of  the  time  when  the  Draft  was  to  be  made. 

Having  been  repeatedly  pressed  lo  declare  his  purpose, 
he  tells  the  General  that  the  "  State  authorities,  under  no 
circumstances,  can  perform  duties  expressly  confided  to 
others  ;  nor  can  they  undertake  to  relieve  others  from  their 
proper  responsibilities  :"  as  if  he  bad  said,  it  was  not  his 


PRO-SLAVERY    DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.  257 

business  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union.  But  as  any  dis 
turbances  of  the  peace  would  be  "  infractions  of  the,  laws  of 
the  State,"  the  military  would,  if  necessary,  be  called  into 
requisition. 

The  letters  of  the  Governor  are  far  from  being  creditable 
to  him.  They  manifest  that  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  ad 
ministration  and  the  war  which  is  indulged  by  a  large  por 
tion  of  the  Democratic  party,  especially  by  its  leaders,  who 
find  it  extremely  difficult  to  conceal  their  sympathy  with 
the  traitors. 

Here  I  had  intended  to  close  this  history  of  Modern  De 
mocracy.  But  since  the  last  paragraph  was  written,  a  letter 
from  Ex-President  Pierce  to  Jefferson  Davis  made  its  ap 
pearance  in  the  public  prints,  which  is  too  valuable  a  con 
tribution  to  the  history  of  the  Kebellion  to  be  withheld.  It 
was  found  among  the  papers  of  Davis  which  were  recently 
captured  by  our  army  at  Jackson,  Mississippi. 

"  CLARENDON  HOTEL,  Jan.  6,  1860. 

"  My  DEAR  FRIEND  :  I  wrote  you  an  unsatisfactory  note 
a  day  or  two  since.  I  have  just  had  a  pleasant  interview 
with  Mr.  Shepley,  whose  courage  and  fidelity  are  equal  to 
his  learning  and  talents.  He  says  he  would  rather  fight 
the  battle  with  you  as  standard  bearer,  in  1860,  than  under 
the  auspices  of  any  other  leader.  The  feeling  and  judg 
ment  of  Mr.  S.  in  this  relation  is,  I  am  confident,  rapidly 
gaining  ground  in  New  England.  Our  people  are  looking 
for  "  the  Coming  Man."  One  who  is  raised  by  all  the  ele 
ments  of  his  character  above  the  atmosphere  ordinarily 
breathed  by  politicians.  A  man  really  fitted  for  this  emer 
gency  by  his  ability,  courage,  broad  statesmanship  and  pa 
triotism.  Col.  Seymour  (Thos.  H.)  arrived  here  this  morn 
ing,  and  expressed  his  views  in  this  relation  in  almost  the 
identical  language  used  by  Mr.  Shepley.  It  is  true  that  in 
the  present  state  of  things  at  Washington,  and  throughout 
the  country,  no  man  can  predict  what  changes  two  or  three 
months  may  bring  forth.  Let  me  suggest  that  in  the 
morning  debates  of  Congress,  full  justice  seems  to  me  not 
to  have  been  done  to  the  Democracy  of  Ihe  North.  I  do 
not  believe  that  our  friends  at  the  South  have  any  just  idea 
of  the  etate  of  feeling  hurrying  at  this  moment  to  the  pitch 


258  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

of  intense  exasperation  between,  those  who  respect  their 
political  obligations,  and  those  who  have  apparently  no  im 
pelling  power  but  that  which  fanatical  passion  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Slavery  imparts.  Without  discussing  the  question  of 
right — of  abstract  power  TO  SECEDE,  /  have  never  believed  that  ac 
tual  disruption  of  the  Union  can  occur  without  blood ;  and  if 
through  the  madness  of  Northern  Abolitionists  that  dire  calamity 
must  come,  tfie  fighting  will  not  be  along  JMason  and  Dixorfs  line, 
merely.  IT  WILL  BE  WITHIN  OUR  OWN  BORDERS,  IN  OUR  OWN 

6TREKTS,  BETWEEN   THE  TWO  CLASSES  OF  CITIZENS  TO  WHOM  I  HAVE 

REFERRED.  Those  who  defy  law  and  scout  constitutional  obliga 
tions,  will,  if  we  ever  reach  the  arbitrament  of  arms,  FIND  OCCUPA 
TION  ENOUGH  AT  HOME. 

Nothing  but  the  state  of  Mrs.  Pierce's  health  could  induce 
me  to  leave  the  country  now,  although  it  is  quite  likely 
that  my  presence  at  home  would  be  of  little  service.  1 
have  tried  to  impress  upon  our  people,  especially  in  N.  H. 
and  Connecticut,  where  the  only  elections  are  to  take  place 
during  the  coming  Spring,  that  while  all  our  Union  meet 
ings  are  in  the  right  direction  and  well  enough  for  the 
present,  they  will  not  be  worth  the  paper  upon  which  their 
resolutions  are  written,  unless  we  can  overthrow  political 
Abolitionism  at  the  polls,  and  repeal  the  unconstitutional 
and  obnoxious  laws  which  in  the  cause  of  "  Personal 
Liberty"  have  been  placed  upon  our  Statute  books.  I 
shall  look  witii  deep  interest,  and  not  without  hope,  for 
a  decided  change  in  this  relation. 

Ever  and  truly  your  friend, 

"  FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 
11  Hon.  JEFF.  DAVIS,  Washington,  D.  0." 

The  papers  of  Davis  furnish  additional  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  what  is  said  on  a  preceding  page  in  respect  to  the 
service  rendered  the  slaveholders  by  the  last  two  Democra; 
tic  Presidents.  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  a  letter  dated  some  years 
earlier,  and  also  found  among  these  papers,  claimed  the 
honor  of  having,  in  a  certain  instance,  gone  further  in  sup 
port  of  Slavery  than  Southerners  themselves  ;  or,  as  he 
expressed  it,  in  "  out-Heroding  Herod."  But  Mr.  Pierce 
goes  a  large  stride  further,  and  assures  his  Southern  brother, 
that  if  war  should  come,  their  Anti-Slavery  opponents 


PRO-SLAVERY  DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.  259 

would  "  find  occupation  enough  at  home  !"  If  this  letter 
does  not  prove  the  writer,  before  an  impartial  public,  to 
be  an  accessory  to  treason,  what  language  could  convict  a 
man  of  that  crime  ?  Could  all  the  correspondence  between 
Northern  and  Southern  Democrats  be  brought  to  light,  it 
would  astonish  the  world,  and  would  remove  all  doubt  from 
the  minds  of  the  most  skeptical,  that,  without  the  encour 
agement  received  from  the  representatives  of  the  Northern 
Democracy,  Secession  would  never  have  been  attempted, 
and  that  the  Rebellion  is  the  act  of  the  Democratic  party. 

CONCLUSION. 

MY  history  of  the  Democratic  party  is  written.  Whether 
the  task  has  been  well  or  ill  performed,  is  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  an  intelligent  and  impartial  public.  It  has 
been  my  sincere  endeavor  to  make  my  "  Mirror"  reflect  a 
true  picture  of  that  party.  I  have  not  selected  for  animad 
version  a  few  of  its  most  unpopular  acts,  which  are  liable 
to  unfavorable  criticism  ;  nor  have  I  condemned  indiscrim 
inately  the  measures  of  any  Democratic  administration.  I 
have  noticed  such  of  the  principal  measures  of  all  parties 
as  were  deemed  necessary  to  enable  the  reader  to  form  a 
correct  opinion  of  their  general  character  and ,  policy. 

With  the  Democratic  leaders,  POWER  has  been  the  ruling 
motive.  This  was  the  object  of  the  organization  of  the 
party  ;  and  to  perpetuate  their  ill-gotten  power,  has  been 
the  steady  aim  of  a  majority  of  its  leaders.  With  this  view 
was  formed  their  alliance  with  the  Slave  Power,  based  on 
Slavery  as  the  cardinal  principle  of  union.  On  this  plat 
form  the  party  achieved  several  victories.  Elated  with  its 
successes,  it  became  rampant.  It  broke  down  the  long 
standing  barrier  to  the  spread  of  Slavery  ;  and,  having 
carried  its  aggressions  upon  Freedom  beyond  the  point  of 
Northern  endurance,  it  met  a  repulse  in  1860  ;  and  its  rul 
ing  spirits  ruled  one-third  of  the  States  out  of  the  Union  ! 
This  left  the  party  in  a  minority,  without  any  hope  of  re- 

faining  its  ascendency,  unless  by  a  reunion  with  the  Slave 
ower  upon  the  old  basis.     To  this  object  the  efforts  of  its 
leaders  have  been  directed  ever  since  the  Rebellion  com 
menced.    They  opposed  coercion  ;  they  advocated  a  recon-  * 


260  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

Btruction  of  the  Union,  with  a  view  to  further  concessions 
to  the  slaveholders  ;  and  they  have  in  various  ways 
opposed  the  administration  in  its  efforts  to  suppress  the 
Rebellion. 

They  profess  an  earnest  desire  for  peace  ;  but  they  want 
a  peace  which  shall  restore  the  unity  of  the  party.  Hence 
their  opposition  to  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  Slav 
ery  abolished,  all  hope  of  a  restoration  of  the  entirety  of 
the  party  vanishes  for  ever.  They  desire  peace  ;  but  they 
want  to  negotiate  it  themselves  ;  and  for  this  privilege, 
they  would  be  willing  that  the  war  should  be  protracted 
until  after  the  4th  of  March,  1865.  This  is  a  fair  inference 
from  both  their  language  and  their  conduct.  After  having, 
in  conjunction  with  their  former  allies,  involved  the  nation 
in  a  desolating  war,  these  Northern  Democrats  have  the 
assurance  to  ask  for  a  restoration  to  power,  alleging  as  a 
reason,  that  the  Democratic  party  alone  is  competent  to 
bring  the  war  to  a  successful  termination  !  In  other  words, 
the  present  administration  is  unwilling  to  prostrate  itself 
at  the  footstool  of  the  Slave  Power,  and  beg  a  peace  on 
such  terms  as  His  Majesty  may  be  pleased  to  prescribe. 
Into  such  a  humiliating  posture  is  this  party  endeav 
oring  to  bring  our  Government.  And  to  this  humbled 
condition  it  will  be  brought,  if  this  party  should  retrieve 
its  lost  power  before  the  Rebellion  shall  have-  been  sup 
pressed.  Do  not  then  the  honor  and  the  permanent  welfare 
of  the  nation  demand  the  efforts  of  every  patriot  to  put 
down  and  exterminate  a  party  under  whose  despotic  mis 
rule  Constitutional  Liberty  has  been  placed  in  imminent 
peril,  and  which  hopes,  after  an  interregnum  of  four  years, 
to  be  reinstalled  in  power,  and  to  resume  its  "  reign  of 
terror  T 

Let  the  friends  of  the  Union  not  forget,  that  they  have  a 
foe  to  contend  with  on  this  side  as  well  as  one  on  the  other 
side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  In  the  war  with  Sham- 
Democracy,  no  weapon  is  so  effective  as  LIGHT.  The  De 
mocratic  masses  are  honest  and  patriotic.  But  they  have 
long  been  the  victims  of  an  inveterate  prejudice.  They 
have  been  taught  to  look  with  suspicion  upon  everything 
that  was  not  labeled  "  Democracy."  Thousands  are  be 
ginning  to  see  that  profession  is  not  principle  ;  that  they 


CONCLUSION.  261 

have  been  beguiled  into  the  service  of  Slavery  by  men 
with  Democracy  on  their  tongues  while  allied  in  heart  and 
purpose  with  the  enemies  of  Freedom.  Expose  fully  the 
evil  designs  and  artifices  of  their  leaders,  and  they  will 
dissolve  their  present  party  connection,  and  join  the  party 
of  the  Union. 

One  of  the  most  auspicious  "  signs  of  tho  times"  is  the 
growing  sentiment,  that  permanent  peace  can  be  secured 
only  by  the  overthrow  of  Slavery  ;  and  that  in  the  present 
"  irrepressible  conflict"  between  Freedom  and  Slavery,  the 
latter  must  yield.  That  Slavery  and  the  Rebellion  will 
end  together,  is  not  to  be  expected.  Many  years  may 
elapse  before  the  last  vestige  of  the  giant  curse — the  pa 
rent  of  the  present  gigantic  Rebellion — shall  disappear. 
But  we  rejoice  in  the  hope,  that,  in  the  war  which  it  has 
waged  with  Freedom,  it  will  receive,  if  it  has  not  already 
received,  a  wound  which  shall  deprive  it  of  its  controlling 
power  in  the  Government,  and  hasten  its  extinction. 

Lamentable  as  the  immediate  consequences  of  the  Re 
bellion  are,  our  grief  is  made  tolerable  by  anticipations  of 
its  ultimate  happy  results.  We  can  not  repress  the  hope, 
that,  when  Slavery,  which  has  made  us  a  divided  people, 
shall  cease  to  exist,  the  two  hostile  sections  will, 

"  Like  kindred  drops,  be  mingled  into  one  ;" 

will  become  one  in  feeling  and  one  in  interest.  And  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  the  South  will  have  the  greater 
cause  for  rejoicing.  She  will  wonder  at  her  folly  in  hav 
ing  clung  with  such  tenacity  to  her  "peculiar  institution/' 
when  she  shall  have  found  its  loss  compensated  ten  fold 
by  those  other  institutions  which  have  made  the  North  an 
object  of  envy  to  her  less  prosperous  rival.  Northern  en- 
'erprise  and  Northern  capital  will  be  no  longer  circum 
scribed  by  sectional  boundaries,  but  will  find  a  new  and 
inviting  field  beyond  the  Potomac.  An  extensive  and 
mutually  profitable  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
two  sections  will  be  established.  Churches  and  school- 
houses  will  be  multiplied,  and  diffuse  their  salutary  influ 
ence  through  every  Soutnern  community  ;  Southern  and 
Northern  society  will  be  assimilated  ;  and  the  different 


262  DEMOCRATIC   MIRROR. 

parts  of  our  great  Republic  will  be  united  in  indissoluble 
bonds  of  fraternal  affection.  Let  Slavery  and  the  Rebellion 
die  together,  and  all  these  things  will  be  fulfilled  before 
this  generation  shall  have  passed  away. 


Abolition  of  Slavery  in  District  of  Columbia,  petitions  for,  69,  108,  125. 
Adams,  John,  elected  vice-president,  18  ;    elected  president,  29  ;    inaugurated, 
30 ;  his  course  respecting  the  French  Mission,  35,  36,  37  ;  opposed  by 
Hamilton  and  others,  36,  40. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  elected  president,  53 ;  inauguration  of,  55  ;  meets  with 
early  opposition,  55,  56  ;  his  appointment  of  Clay,  56  ;  controversy  with 
Georgia,  61-63  ;  charge  of  coalition  against,  renewed,  63-65  ;  censured 
for  certain  acts,  68  ;  remarks  on  his  defeat  in  1828,  70-72 ;  removals  and 
appointments  by,  77;  opposes  Arkansas  constitution,  112;  speech  of, 
against  annexation  of  Texas,  124,  125 ;  on  New  Jersey  election  case, 
128;  views  of,  on  abolishing  slavery,  137  ;  report  of,  on  Tyler's  vetoes, 
136;  presents  Haverhill  petition,  138;  attempt  to  censure  him,  138; 
speech  of,  on  Oregon  question,  160. 

Agitation  of  the  slavery  question — who  are  its  authors  ?  176,  177. 
Alien  and  Sedition  laws,  32-35. 
Amistad,  schooner,  capture  of,  125,  126  ;  Van  Buren  befriends  the  slave  ateal- 

ers,  126,  127. 

Anderson,  Richard  C.,  appointed  commissioner  to  Panama,  58 ;  dies,  60. 
Anderson,  Major,  occupies  Fort  Sumter,  214. 
Annexation  of  Texas,  history  of,  140  ;  treaty  to  annex  rejected,  141  ;  Benton's 

speech  against,  141  ;  letters  of  Clay  and  Van  Buren  on,  143,  144. 
Anti-Democratic  party,  the  true  conservative  party,  231-239. 
Anti-slavery  socie;y  formed,  its  objects,  103  ;  opposition  to,  North  and  South,  103, 
104;  rewards  offered  for  anti-slavery  men,  103;  General  Government  en 
courages  suppression  of  anti-slavery  papers,  104-108  ;  bill  reported  by  Cal- 
houn,  106  ;  Van  Buren's  casting  vote,  107  ;  bill  defeated,  107. 
Arkansas,  admitted  as  a  state,  111,  112.  . 

Arrests  and  suspension  of  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  221  ;  defended  by  Lincoln,  222. 
Atherton's  "  gag  resolutions"  to  suppress  anti-slavery  petitions,  125. 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  incorporation  of,  21  ;  second  bank,  48,  50;  attacked 
T5y  Jacksou,  77  ;  reports  on,  in  Congress,  78  ;  applies  for  re-charter,  92  ; 
bill  passed  and  vetoed,  93  ;  affairs  of,  investigated,  93-95  ;  Adams'  report 
on,  94,  95 ;  inquiry  to  ascertain  safety  of  deposits,  97,  98  ;  Jackson  deter 
mines  and  orders  their  removal,  98  ;  removes  Duane,  and  appoints  Taney, 
98 ;  bank  vindicated  by  directors,  99,  100 ;  attempt  to  break  it,  and  the 
effects,  100,  10 1  ;  removal  of  deposits  condemned,  101  ;  bills  for  incor 
poration  of,  vetoed  by  Tyler,  133,  134  ;  fiscal  agent  recommended  by 
Tyler,  134. 

Bankrupt  law  of  1841,  passed,  134. 
Banks,  state,  increased,  130  ;  made  deposit  banks,  98. 
Bell,  John,  nominated  for  president,  200. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  of  Mo.,  constitutional  amendments  and  reform  bills  proposed 
by,  57  ;  supports  South  Carolina  doctrine,  85  ;  his  expunging  resolu 
tions,  opposed  by  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster,  and  passed,  102 ;  opposes 


264  INDEX. 

anti-slavery  petition?,  109;    on  the  specie  circular,  111;    propositions 
fur  annexing  Texas,  142;  148;    opposes  the  treaty  of  annexation,  142; 
against  Cal'houh  on  Mexican  bill,  155,  156  ;  on  Oregon  question,  160. 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  France,  44,  45  ;  repealed,  47. 
Beverly,  Carter,  charges  of,  against  Adams  and  Clay,  63,  64. 
Uirnoy,  James  (3.,  nominated  for  president,  130. 
Blockade  of  southern  ports  ordered  by  Lincoln,  223. 
Bolts,  John  M.,  of  Va.,  moves  to  censure  Giddings,  140. 
Breckcnridge,  John  C.,  nomination  of,  for  president,  200. 

feronson,  Greene  C.,  in  favor  of  power  of  Congress  over  slavery  in  territories,  237. 
Buchanan,  James,  agency  of,  in  charges  against  Adams  and  Clay,  64,  65  ;  nomi 
nated  for  president ;  his  antecedents,  181  ;  joins  in  issuing  the  Ostend 
manifesto,  proposing  to  acquire  Cuba,  181  ;  adopts  the  Cincinnati 
platform,  182;  elected  president,  183;  inauguration  of,  186;  re 
nounces  the  Cincinnati  platform,  186  ;  presents  Lecompton  constitution 
to  Congress,  191  ;  annual  message  of  1859,  193  ;  refuses  to  reenforce 
the  southern  forts,  209  ;  last  annual  message  of,  210,  211  ;  term  of, 
expires,  218. 

Burr,  Aaron,  candidate  for  president,  40. 

California,  Douglas'  bill  to  admit,  as  a  state   164  ;  admission  of,  167. 
Calhoun,  John,  president  of  Lecompton  constitutional  convention,  escape  of,  190. 
Caihoun,  John  C.,  opposes  Benton's  expunging  resolution,  102  ;    opposes  the  re 
ception  of  petitions  for  abolishing  slavery  in  the  District,  108  ;  re-unites 
with  the  Democrats,  123  ;  negotiates  treaty  to  annex  Texas,  141  ;  col 
lision  of,  with  Benton  on  Mexican  affairs,  155. 
Carson,  of  N.  C.,  charges  Jackson  with  nullification,  90. 
Caaa,  Lewis,  nominated  for  president,  165 ;  views  cf,  on  prohibition  of  slavery  in 

territories,   165. 

Caucus,  congressional,  origin  of,  53;  nomination  by,  in  1824,  53. 
Cavanaugh,  of  Wis.,  speech  of,  on  pre-emption  bill.  195. 

Charleston,  national  Democratic  convcution  at,  in  1860,  199;  disruption  and  ad 
journment  of,  199,  200. 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  speech  of,  on  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  176  ;  appointed  secretary 

of  the  treasury,  220. 

Chilton,  resolutions  on  retrenchment,  offered  by,  67-69. 
Cincinnati,  national  Democratic  convention  at,  and  platform,  180-132. 
Clay,  Henry,  candidate  for  president,  53,  95,  145  ;  charged  with  corrupt  coalition 
with  Adams,  56 ;  charge  renewed,  63-65  ;    compromise  tariff  bill  intro 
duced  by,  88  ;   land  proceeds  distribution  bill  introduced  by,  91,  92  ;  reso- 
lutions  of.  condemning  removal  of  deposits,  101  ;  opposes  Benton's  expung 
ing  resolution,  103  ;  distribution,  bilbof,  again  defeated,  but  incorporated 
in  the  surplus  revenue  distribution  act,  H3;  letter  of,  on  annexation  of 
Texas,  143  ;  letter  of,  to  the  South,  on  annexation,  149;  slavery  compro 
mise  of  1850,  167,  168. 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  candidate  for  president,  49. 
Clayton,  John  M.,  of  Del.,  exposes  Polk'a  secret  orders  to  Gen.  Taylor  to  invade 

Mexico,  156,  157  ;  appointed  secretary  of  state,  by  Taylor,  166. 
Collection  of  duties,  acts  to  enforce,  87,  88,  225. 

Commerce,  no  power  under  the  confederation  to  regulate,  15  ;  meeting  of  commis 
sioners  at  Annapolis  to  regulate,  15,  16  ;  power  conferred  by  consti 
tution,  art.  1,  section  8. 
Compromise  tariff  bill,  (Clay's)  88  ;  compromise  measures  of  1850,  and  on  slavery, 

167,  168  ;  resolutions  for,  by  Crittenden,  215,  216. 
Confederacy,  southern,  formed,  210. 


INDEX.  265 

Confederation,  government  under,  description  of,  13-15. 
Confiscation  act,  under  Lincoln,  passed,  225. 

Congress,  under  confederation,  want  of  power  of,  14,  15  ;  first  meeting  of,  under 
the  constitution,  petitioned  for  protection,  18  ;  power  of,  over  slavery  in 
territories,  188. 

Contested  seats  in  Congress,  1839,  New  Jersey  case,  127-129. 
Continental  money,  depreciation  of,  19. 

Constitution,  convention  called  to  frame,  16  ;    opposition  to  a  national  govern 
ment,  16. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  opposes  raising  supplies  for  Mexican  war,  157. 
Crawford,  Wm.  H.,  nominated  for  president,  53. 
Crittcnden,  John  J.,  compromise  resolutions  of,  215,  216. 

Currency,  war  against,  by  Jackson,  109  ;  restriction  of  paper  money,  109  ;  spe 
cie  circular,  110. 

Gushing,  Caleb,  of  Mass.,  opposes  Arkansas  state  constitution,  112. 
Daniel,  of  Ky.,  charges  Jackson  with  nullification,  89,  90. 
Davie,  Win.,  of  N.  C.,  minister  to  France,  36. 

Davis.  Jefferson,  pro-slavery  resolutions  of,  in  senate,  197, 198 ;  Harlan's  amend 
ment  voted  down,  198  ;  as  president  of  confederate  states,  issues  a  procla 
mation  for  volunteers,  and  orders  reprisal.  221. 
Delaware,  legislature  of,  in  favor  of  restriction  of  slavery  by  Congress,  236 ; 

loyalty  of,  in  1861. 

Democratic  party,  formed,  57  ;  early  identified  with  slavery,  107,  108,  125  ; 
character  of,  239-241 ;  abandons  protection,  241,  242  ;  is  the  slavery 
party,  242,  &G.  ;  denies  right  of  petition,  243;  repeals  Missouri  com 
promise,  244  ;  encourages  secession,  245-252  ;  opposes  war  measures, 
253-257  ;  aims  to  regain  power,  259,  260. 

Democratic  national  convention  of  1860  ;  disruption  of,  199,  200  ;  meets  at  Balti 
more,  and  nominates  Douglas,  200  ;  seceders  meet  at  Richmond,  and 
nominate  Breckenridge,  200. 

Democrats,  northern,  abandon  their  principles,  145,  146. 

Deposits,  removal  of,  97-99;    effects  of,  and  condemned,  ICO,  101  ;  Clay's  reso 
lutions,  101. 
District  of  Columbia,  petition  of  citizens  of,  for  abolishing  slavery  in,  69 ;  Ather 

ton's  resolutions  to  suppress  petitions,  125.  ^ 

Dix,  John  A.,  secretary  of  the  treasury,  215. 
Dodge,  senator  of  Iowa,  introduces  Nebraska  bill,  175. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  proposes  to  extend  compromise  line  to  the  Pacific,  163 ;  in 
troduces  bill  to  admit  California,  164  ;  reports  of,  on  Nebraska  bill,  175, 
176 ;  and  on  Kansas  outrages,  179,  180 ;  opposes  the  Lecompton  con 
stitution,  191 ;  candidate  for  president  at  Charleston,  nominated  at  Bal 
timore,  199,  200  ;  his  dilemma,  202  ;  his  electoral  vote,  203. 
Draft,  opposed  by  Democrats,  254-257. 

Duane,  Wm  J.,  reasons  of,  for  not  removing  deposits,  and  his  removal  by  Jack 
son,  98,  99. 

Embargo  law,  45  ;  effects  of,  and  repeal,  46. 

Emancipation,  proclamation  of.  by  Lincoln,  227  ;  as  a  war  measure,  views  on,  by 
J.  Q.  Adams,  and  by  Patrick  Henry,  228,  229 ;  plan  of,  recom 
mended  by  Lincoln,  229. 
Executive  departments,  reorganized,  19. 
Federal  party,  origin  of,  13,  17  ;  disbanded,  52,  53. 

Fillinore,  Millard,  elected  vice-president,  165 ;  succeeds  Taylor,  168  .  bis  cab 
inet,  168  ;  his  pro-slavery  course,  169-172 ;  defection  of  his  friend^ 
171,  172;  his  rewar^  173;  electoral  vote  for  in  1856,  IBS;  his  Ai. 


2C6  INDEX. 

bany  speech,  213 ;  answer  of,  to  abolitionists,  238 ;    speech*  of,  in 
1844,  239. 

Floor  riot  in  the  city  of  New  York,  121,  122. 

France,  our  relations  with,  21  ;  dissatisfied  with  the  Jay  treaty,  27  ;  authorizes 
the  capture  of  American  vessels,  27;  the  object  of  her  retaliation,  28  ; 
difficulties  with,  under  John  Adams,  30-32  ;  same  under  Jefferson,  44. 
Force  bill,  under  Jackson,  against  South  Carolina,  87,  68. 
Freedom  national,  slavery  sectional,  211,  212. 
Fremont,  John  C,  nominated  for  president,  in  1856,  182. 

Geary,  J.  W.,  appointed  governor  of  Kansas,  184  ;   his  administration,  184  ;  re 
signs,  165. 
Genet,  Edmund  C ,  French  minister,  conduct  at  Charleston,  and  at  Philadelphia, 

22,  23  ;  recalled,  23. 
Georgia,  protest  of,  against  tariff  of  1828,  69,  70 ;  controversy  with  the  general 

government,  under  J.  Q.  Adams,  80,  81. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  presents  a  petition,  and  offers  resolutions,  is  censured,  re 
signs,  and  is  re-elected,  139,  140. 
Gilmer,  of  Va.,  resolution  of,  to  censure  Adams,  138. 
Governors  of  loyal  states,  meeting  of,  at  Altoona,  229. 

Great  Britain,  restrictive  policy  of,  15  ;  commercial  difficulties  with  ;  Jay  treaty, 
24,  25  ;  renewed  difficulties  with,  44-48  ;  declaration  of  war  against, 
47  ;  minister  at  Washington  departs,  47  ;  her  orders  in  council  re 
voked,  47  ;  American  seamen  impressed  by,  44,  47,  48  ;  treaty  of 
peace  with,  48. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  secretary  of  the  treasury  ;  his  financial  policy,  19-21  ;  op 
poses  Adams,  36,  40. 

Harrison,  AVm.  II.,  nominated  for  president,  116,  130  ;  elected,  131 ;  his  inaugu 
ration;  convenes  congress  ;  dies,  132. 
Hayne,  R.  Y.,  of  S.  C ,  advocates  nullification,  85 
Henry  Patrick,  approves  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  33  ;    declines  mission  to 

France,  36. 

Holt,  Joseph,  of  Ky..  appointed  secretary  of  war,  215. 

Homestead  bill,  in  1859,  passed  by  the  house,  195 ;  defeated  in  the  senate,  195  ; 
bill  reported  in  I860,  by  Lovejoy ;  modified  in  the  senate,  passed,  and 
vetoad,  196,  197      [A  bill,  similar  to  that  introduced  by  Mr.  Grow  in 
I860,  was  passed  in  1862,  but  inadvertently  unnoticed  in  thia  work.J 
Hubbard,  Henry,  of  N.  H.,  on  sub-treasury,  121. 
Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  of  Va.,  elected  speaker,  129. 
Illinois,  legislature  of,  resolutions  introduced  in,  condemning  Lincoln  and  the 

war,  254. 

Impressment  of  seamen  by  Great  Britain,  44-48. 
Indiana,  legislature  of,  anti-war  resolutions,  254. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  candidate  for  president,  53 ;  charges  corruption  upon  Adams 
and  Clay,  63-65  ;  elected  president,  70;  inaugurated;  his  cabinet,  73  ; 
his  "  antecedents,"  73-75  ;  letter  of,  to  Gov.  Ray,  74  ;  hig  reward  and 
punishment  system,  75-77  ;  assails  the  bank,  77  ;  vetoes  internal  im 
provement  bills,  78 ;  hts  Indian  policy,  78-81  ;  nullifies  supreme  court 
decision,  81  ;  alleged  support  of  nullification,  86,  89,  90  ;  proclamation 
ngainst  South  Carolina,  87  ;  inconsistency  of  his  vetoes,  91  ;  is  re-elected, 
96  ;  orders  bank  deposits  removed,  97-99  ;  removes  Duane  and  appoint* 
Taney,  99  ;  attempts  to  break  the  bank,  100  ;  protests  against  Clay's 
resolutions,  101  ;  recommends  suppression  of  anti-slavery  papers,  105. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  appointed  secretary  of  state,  19  ;  elected  vice-president,  29  ; 
draws  up  the  "  Kentucky  resolution?,"  34  ;  is  elected  president,  40  ;  in- 


INDEX.  2  67 

augurated;  revokes  Adams' appointments,  42 ;  recommends  gun-boats, 
43  ;  suppresses  certain  documents,  45. 
Judiciary,  national,  established    in    1789,   19 ;    act  assailed  by  the   Jackson 

party,  89. 

Kansas  and  Nebraska  bills  reported,  175,  17(5  ;  non-intervention  principle  intro 
duced  in,  176  ;  Chase's  speech  on,  176  ;  bills  passed,  177. 

Kansas,  early  efforts  to  establish  slavery  in,  177,  178 ;  secret  societies  for  this 
purpose,  177,  178  ;  election  frauds  in,  178  ;  pro-slavery  laws  enacted  in. 
178  ;  Topeka  constitution  (free  state,)  formed,  179  ;  Pierce  defends  the 
ruffians.  179;  Douglas'  report  censures  the  Aid  Societies,  and  encou 
rages  "ruffianism,  179,  180;  Grow's  bill  to  admit  as  a  state,  160; 
Dunn's  substitute,  180  ;  Grow's  bill  for  the  relief  of,  184  ;  condition  of, 
under  Gov.  Geary,  184  ;  meeting  of  Topeka  legislature,  184  ;  territorial 
legislature  calls  constitutional  convention  at  Lecompton,  185  ;  provisions 
of  the  convention  act,  185  ;  Gov.  Geary  resigns,  185  ;  R.  J.  Walker,  ap 
pointed  governor,  and  F.  P.  Stan  ton,  secretary,  188  ;  Stanton  removed  ; 
Denver  appointed  ;  Walker  resigns,  190 ;  Denver,  acting-governor  re 
signs ;  Medary  appointed,  192;  Wyandotte  constitution,  192,  193;  Bu 
chanan  repeats  his  new  doctrines,  193  ;  bill  to  admit,  with  Wyandotte  con 
stitution,  passes  the  house,  193.  [At  the  next  session,  (Jan.,  1861,)  after 
the  retirement  of  senators  from  seceded  states,  Kansas  was  admitted  with 
the  Wyandotte  constitution,  as  a  free  state.] 

Kendall,  Amos,  bank  agency  of,  98. 

Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798.  34,  35. 

Land  proceeds,  distribution  bills  of  Mr.  Clay,  defeated.  91,  113;  bill  passed,  134. 

Lecompton  constitution,  history  of,  189-191  ;  people  not  allowed  to  vote  on,  189  ; 
vote  of  the  people  on,  authorized  ;  constitution  rejected,  190  ;  presented 
to  Congress,  191 ;  inducements  offered  to  insure  its  adoption,  191 ; 
rejected,  192. 

Leigh,  B.  W-,  sent  as  mediator  to  South  Carolina,  88. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  nominated  for  president,  200 ;  elected,  203 ;  inaugurated, 
219  ;  his  cabinet,  220 ;  issues  his  proclamation  and  call  for  troops,  and 
convenes  Congress,  220  ;  response  from  states,  220,  221  ;  second  call, 
221  ;  defends  arrests  and  suspensiou  of  habeas  corpus,  222,  223,  224  ; 
first  annual  message  of,  226  ;  proclamation  confiscating  rebel  property, 
227  ;  proclamation  of  emancipation,  227  ;  proclamations  condemned  by 
Democratic  party,  227  ;  recommends  a  plan  of  Emancipation,  229  ;  pro 
claims  freedom,  Jan.  1,  1863,  230. 

Loco-foco,  origin  and  application  of,  121. 

Louisiana,  purchase  of,  42.  43  ;  division  of,  43. 

Maine,  Democrats  of,  for  slavery  prohibition,  236. 

Madison,  James,  introduces  a  bill  for  protection  and  revenue,  18  ;  joins  the  oppo 
sition,  20  ;  author  of  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  34  ;  proclaims  removal 
of  restrictions  against  France,  46  ;  re-elected,  48  ;  recommends  protec 
tive  tariff,  50,  51. 

Marcy,  Wm.  L.,  defends  New  York  politics,  84,  85. 

Marshall,  of  Ky.,  resolution  of,  to  censure  Adams,  138. 

Mason  and  Slid  ell,  capture  and  release  of,  225. 

McDuffie,  bill  of,  to  reduce  the  tariff,  87  ;  report  of,  on  the  bank,  78 ;  proposition 
of,  for  annexing  Texas,  148. 

McHenry,  secretary  of  war,  resigns,  37. 

McLane,  Louis,  negotiates  West  India  arrangement,  82 ;  is  appointed  secretary 
of  the  treasury,  84. 


268  INDEX. 

Medary,  Samuel,  appointed  governor  of  "Kansas,  192  ;  defeats  the  bill  to  abolish 

sin very.  192. 

Mexico,  difficulty  with,  115;  protests  against  annexation  of  Texns  ;  diplomatic 
intercourse  ceases,  152  ;  propositions  of,  to  Texns,  152  ;  U.  S.  army  sent 
into,  152;  offers  to  treat  with  U-  S.,  152  ;  Gen.  Taylor  ordered  to  the  Rio 
Grande  ;  Polk  announces  war  with,  153;  dilemma  of  the  Whigs,  153, 
154  ;  Polk  proposes  negotiation  with,  and  asks  for  money ;  bill  passes 
the  house  with  Wilinot  proviso,  154  ;  a  second  bill,  witiout  proviso, 
passed,  154,  155  ;  debate  thereon  in  the  senate  ;  collision  «  Benton  and 
Calhoun,  155,  156. 

Michigan  admitted  as  a  state,  111,  112. 
Minimum,  definition  and  explanation  of,  65,  66. 
Missouri  compromise,  pronounced  unconstitutional,  187. 
Monroe  doctrine.  59. 

Murray,  William  Vans,  minister  to  Netherlands  and  to  France,    36. 
Naturalization  law,  altered  under  John  Adams,  39. 

Nebraska,  bill  to  organize  the  territory  of.  175.  [Afterward  reported  by  Douglas, 
amended  so  as  to  make  two  territories,  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  to 
repeal  the  Missouri  compromise.]  Chase's  speech  on,  175  ;  bills 
passed,  177. 

New  Jersey,  elect  on  case  of,  in  Congress,  127-129. 
New  Mexico,  remonstrance  of,  against  being  annexed  to  Texas,  aud  against 

slavery,  164. 

New  York,  legislature  of,  in  favor  of  slavery  restriction,  236  j  Democratic  meet 
ings  in  the  city  of,  237,  245. 

Non-intercourse  law,  against  France  and  England,  46. 
Non-intervention,  asserted  by  Cass,  161  ;  by  Douglas,  176. 
Nullification,  origin  of,  34  ;  supported  by  Democrats,  85,  86,  89 ;    opposed  by 

Webster,  85. 

Oregon  question,  145  ;  to  be  disposed  of  by  Polk  ;  territorial   government  for, 
passes  the  house,  153;  danger  of  war,  159,  160;  speeches  of  Adams  and 
Benton  on,  160  ;  concession  to  G.  Britain  ;  peace,  160  ;  agency  of  slavery 
in,  161  ;  territorial  government  for,  162-164. 
Orders  in  council,  British,  44  ;  revoked,  47. 
Panama  mission,  58-61. 
Peace,  negotiation  of,  with  Great  Britain,  49. 
Peace  convention,  proceedings  and  result  of,  217,  218. 
Pickering,  Timothy,  secretary  of  state,  removed  by  Adams,  37. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  nominated  for  president,  173  ;  elected.  174  ;  inaugurated  ;  de 
claration    of,  against  slavery  agitation,   175  ;    defends  slavery  and   the 
South,  183  ;  secession  letter  of,  to  Jeff.  Davis,  257. 
Pinckney,  C.  C.,  minister  to  France,  23  ;  candidate  for  president,  40. 
Platforms  of  parties,  in  1852,  173,  174  ;  in  1S56,  180-182;  in  I860,  200,  201. 
Poinsett,  Joel  R.,  minister  to  Panama,  58. 

Polk,  J.  K.,  nominated  for  president,  145;  letters  on  tariff,  147;  elected,  148  ; 
his  inauguration,  and  cabinet,  151 ;  orders  army  into  Mexico;  announces 
war,  152,  153 ;  proposes  negotiation  with  Mexico  ;  reasserts  the  Rio  Grande 
boundary,  154. 

Power  of  removal,  by  the  executive,  19. 
Pre-emption  bill,  Qrow's  amendment  to,  194,  195. 
Protection,  recommended  by  Washington,  19. 
Publishers  of  laws,  changes  in,  by  J.  Q.  Adams,  63. 
Randolph,  Edmund,  presents  a  plan  of  government,  16. 
Ray,  Gov.  of  Indiana,  letter  of,  to  Jackson,  74. 


INDEX.  269 

Resolutions  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  34,  45,  85 ;  claimed  in  support  of  nulli 
fication,  85. 

Republican  party  formed,  180 ;  national  conventions  of,  in  1856,  and  1860. 
Revolution  in  1766,  causes  of  15. 
Revulsion,  pecuniary,  in  1837,  118,  119. 
Rochester,  Win.  B.,  secretary  of  Panama  mission,  68. 
Rowan,  senator  of  Ky.,  advocates  nullification,  85,  86. 
Scott,  General,  nominated  for  president,   173 ;    advises  Buchanan  to  strengthen 

southern  fort?,  209,  210. 
Scott,  Dred,  decision  of.  the- case  of,  187,  183. 
Seamen,  impressment  of,  by  Great  Britain,  44,  48. 
Secession,  long  premeditated,  evidence  of,  203-209;  not  the  will  of  the  nrcjor- 

ity,  216. 

Sectionalism,  charge  of,  answered,  211-214. 
Secretaries  Cobb,  Floyd,  and  Thompson,  traitors,  214. 
Sedition  and  alien  laws,  31,  33. 
Sergeant,  John,  commissioner  to  Panama,  58. 
Seward,  W.  H.,  reasons  for  releasing  Mason  and  Slidell,  225. 
Seymour,  Gov.  of  N.  Y..  speech  of,  at  Albany,  1861,  245-247;  his  course  on  the 

draft,  256,  257. 

Seymour,  Gov.  of  Conn.,  traitorous  letter  of,  251,  252. 

Slavery,  union  of,  with  Democracy,  107,  108,  125  ;  petitions  against,  opposed  by 
Calhoun,  108;  compromise  with,  in  1850,  167,  168;  sectional,  inexpe 
dient,  disgraceful,  211-213  ;  in  territories,  legislated  on,  227  ;  abolished 
in  District  Columbia,  227  ;  views  of  early  statesmen  on,  231-235  ;  con 
stitutionality  of  its  restriction  by  Congress  formerly  recognized  by  Demo 
crats,  235-237. 

Slidell,  John,  minister  to  Mexico,  152  ;  Confederate  minister  to  Europe,  225. 
Smith,  C.  B.,  of  Ind.,  reports  Oregon  territorial  bill,  163  ;  upper  California  bill,  164. 
South  Carolina,  protests  against  tariff,  69,  70  ;  nullifying  ordinance  of,  in  1832, 

87  ;  repealed,  89  ;  secedes  and  seizes  the  national  property,  214. 
Speaker,  long  contests  for  election  of,  in  1839,  127-129  ;  in  1849,  166.    [Fn  1855- 
1856,  the  balloting  was  continued  two  months  ;  N.  P.  Banks  was  chosen. 
In  1659-1860,  the  contest  lasted  about  two  months  ;  ending  in  the  elec 
tion  of  Win.  Pennington,  of  N.] 

Specie  circular,  and  its  effects;    resolution  to  rescind,  vetoed,   110,    111;    re 
pealed,  123. 
Stanton,  E.  P.,  secretary  of  Kansas,  188  ;  convenes  the  legislature  to  authorizo  a 

vote  on  the  Lecompton  constitution,  and  is  removed,  190. 
Sub-treasury  scheme,  twice  defeated,  119-121  ;  debate  on,  121-123  ;  established, 

129  ;  repealed,  133  ;  re-established,  162. 

Surplus  revenue,  distribution  of,  recommended  by  Jackson,  92  ;  act  for  distri 
bution,  by  depositing  with  the  states,  113. 
Tiillinadge,  N.  P.,  speech  of,  on  sub-treasury,  121-123. 
Tiinoy,  Ro^er  B.,  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury,  99. 

Tariff,  of  1816,  50,  51  ;  of  1824,  52;  of  1828,  65-67  ;  of  1832,  86;  Verplanck'g 
and  AicDuffie'a  bills  to  reduce.  86,  87 ;  Clay's  compromise,  88  ;  act  of  1642, 
135,  136  ;  its  workings,  146,  147  ;  the  Polk  swindle  on,  147,  148  ;  protec 
tive,  destroyed  by  the  Democracy,  161  ;  of  1846,  and  effects  of,  161,  162. 
[A  protective  tariff  was  passed,  March,  1861.]  Tariff  and  tf»x  bill, 
passed,  224. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  candidate  for  president,  views  of,  an/1  his  election,  164. 165  ;  hig 
inauguration  ;  cabinet ;  torritorial  policy,  166  ;  his  death/ 163  '•>  opposi 
tion  to  his  administration,  and  his  relations  with  Seward,  170-173. 


2TO  INDEX. 

Texas,  recognition  of,  113-115;  annexation  of,  proposed,  debated,  proposition 
withdrawn,  124,  125;  pro-slavery  revolution  in,  140  ;•  history  of  annex 
ation  ;  treaty  rejected,  141;  Benton's  speech,  142;  letters  of  Clay  and 
Van  Buren  on  annexation  of,  143,  144  ;  annexation  effected,  143,  149  ;  ac 
cepts  terms  of  annexation,  152. 

Thayer,  J.  S.,  secession  speech  of,  at  Albany,  247-249. 

Topeka,  Kansas,  constitution  formed  at,  179;  legislative  session  broken  up,  184. 

Treaty  with  France  under  John  Adams,  37-39. 

Twiggs,  Gen.,  atrocious  treason  of,  215. 

Tyler,  John,  elected  vice-president,  131  ;  succeeds  Harrison  as  president,  132; 
message  to  Congress,  special  session,  133  ;  vetoes  two  bank  bills;  his  cab 
inet  resigns,  133,  134  ;  vetoes  tariff  bill,  136  ;  is  claimed  again  by  the 
South,  137  ;  suggests  forcible  intervention  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  141  ; 
again  recommends  annexation,  14R ;  consummates  it,  149. 

Union,  states  rights  view  of,  34,  35,  85,  86  ;  views  of  Webster  and  Living 
ston,  85,  87. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  rejected  as  minister  to  England,  34  ;  nominated  and  elected 
president,  115,  116  ;  inaugurated  ;  pledged  against  abolishing  slavery 
in  District  of  Columbia,  117  ;  convenes  Congress,  118  ;  renominated, 
130;  letter  of.  on  annexation,  143,  144;  nominated,  165. 

Virginia,  resolutions  of  1798,  34,  35  ;  legislature  of,  proposes  a  peace  conven 
tion,  216,  217. 

Walker,  R.  J.,  appointed  governor  of  Kansas,  188;  his  policy,  188,  189  :  re 
signs,  190. 

War,  declared  against  Great  Britain;  opposed  by  Federalists,  47;  with  Mexico, 

Washington  elected  president,  18;  cabinet  of,  19;  his  proclamation  of  neu 
trality,  22. 

Webster,  Daniel,  views  of,  on  the  nature  of  the  Union,  85,  86  ;   on  Benton's  ex 
punging  resolution,  102;  on  the  slavery  question,  168,  169. 
West  Virginia,  admitted  as  a  state,  230. 

West  India  trade,  81-84  ;  negotiation  for  under  Adams,  81,  82;  LoasUd  arrange 
ment  under  Jackson,  82-84  ;  effects  of,  137 
Whiskey  insurrection,  20,  21. 

Wisconsin,  legislature  of,  on  slavery  restriction,  236. 
Wright,  Silas,  vote  on  tariff  of  1842,  136. 


ERRATA 


Page  42,    in    the    title    to    the    Chapter,    for    "John    Quincy 

Adams,"  read  Mr.  Monroe. 

45,  line.  16  from  bottom,  after  «  one,"  insert/row. 
85,  line  9  from  bottom,  for  "  33,"  read  34. 
^  98,  line  13  from  top,  for  «  Moses,"  read  Amos. 
:<  214,  line  12  from  bottom,  for  "  28,"  read  26. 


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